DULUTH, GA. — The Urban Redevelopment Agency of Gwinnett County has approved the purchase of a former Sears department store at Gwinnett Place Mall, a struggling shopping mall situated off Pleasant Hill Road near the I-85 exit in metro Atlanta. Northwood Ravin will sell the 11.5-acre site to the county for $11.5 million, the same price the Charlotte-based multifamily developer paid for the property in 2018.
With the Sears acquisition, Gwinnett County now owns a combined 87.5 acres at Gwinnett Place Mall. Plans for the mall redevelopment include a mixed-use destination that is “green and walkable.” The county and the mall’s redevelopment consultant, CBRE, will release a nationwide request for proposal (RFP) to developers later this month.
The mall redevelopment will include the Gwinnett Place Transit Center, which the county’s board of commissioners approved in March and is funded largely by the Federal Transit Administration. The project will expand transit connection throughout the county and is projected to be completed in 2032.