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Caldwell Development Investments presents concept plan for downtown site; council presses on parking, utilities and timeline
Summary
Caldwell Development Investments presented a concept master plan under a December 2 letter of intent for a roughly six-acre downtown site that would add a hotel, food hall and mixed-use buildings; the company said it would privately fund initial infrastructure work.
Caldwell Development Investments presented a concept master plan for a roughly six-acre downtown site under a December 2 letter of intent, describing a phased project with a hotel, a food hall, mixed-use retail and loft apartments and new public streets. CDI said infrastructure would be privately financed and that the project would be built in phases aimed to attract businesses back to the square.
Tom Kriembs, leading the CDI team, said the company had done geotechnical, topographic and design work and had preliminary commitments from a hotel operator and several potential tenants. Kriembs told the council, "This initially is about a $5,000,000 investment by us to put the infrastructure in ... Then the, development we do on phase 1 is, about $20,000,000 worth of buildings." He said the overall project would result in roughly 150,000 square feet of new construction on the site and that, if work began promptly, key elements could be complete in about two years.
Kriembs described a food hall operator under consideration (Ithaca Hospitality / Heyday Market), mixed-use retail buildings with second-floor lofts, and a 125-room hotel concept as anchors to draw foot traffic. He said the project team has been coordinating with Newnan Utilities on water and sewer, and that some sewer relocations and pressure upgrades would be needed to support sprinklers and four-story construction.
Council members repeatedly pressed CDI on parking and timing. CDI said the site plan shows roughly 250 parking spaces across phases 1 and 2, with phase 1 expected to include close to 200 spaces. A council member asked about the hotel's parking needs; CDI said the hotel requirement would be met from the shared parking supply but that the exact hotel parking allocation was still being worked out. Officials discussed the possibility of future structured parking and the trade-offs of on-site versus nearby public parking.
No formal council vote was taken during the work session. Council members asked staff to return with more detailed parking analyses, timing estimates and utility/engineering plans before a decision on the concept or a purchase-and-sale agreement. The LOI contemplates next steps of entitlement review and a purchase-and-sale agreement between the city, CDI and the Newnan Development Authority if council gives concept approval at a future meeting.
