There may finally be some progress with the large Fischer Crossing retail development on the northeast quadrant of Fischer Road and Ga. Highway 34 in east Coweta County, less than a mile west of Peachtree City. A development agreement approved June 3 by the Coweta County Commission brought the development one step closer to reality.
The vote was essentially an update of the development agreement from 2008 between the county and the former developer. The new agreement, also pertaining to the 77-acre parcel, is with Southern Trust Capital LLC. The approval came on a 4-0 vote, with Chairman Bob Blackburn excluding himself from the discussion and vote due to an affiliation with the Featherston Fishing Club located along the adjacent Wynn’s Pond Road.
The agreement paves the way for a June 17 public hearing to abandon a portion of Wynn’s Pond Road where a gate for use by Featherston residents will be installed.
Meantime, signs posted on the property note plans to establish 200,000 square feet of retail space on the site. Potential tenants have not been identified.
Significant to the development agreement are the previous requirements to close the west side of Wynn’s Pond Road and to install a median cut on Ga. Highway 54 and Wynn’s Pond Road located east of the development.
Project representative Steven Gaultney last year agreed to the conditions that pertained to the Featherston Fishing Club property immediately to the north of the retail development.
Though Wynn’s Pond Road once ended at Fischer Road on its west side, the agreement calls for closing the road approximately 1,000 feet to the east. One of the conditions stipulated that a cul-de-sac be constructed at the new western end of Wynn’s Pond Road and a gate and keypad installed to permit only Featherston Fishing Club residents access to the roadway and the homes located to the east.
Another condition dealt with the median cut on Hwy. 54 at Wynn’s Pond Road that has long been a requirement associated with the large Fischer Crossing commercial project. The median cut was part of the overall approval of the development several years ago to provide direct access to Wynn’s Pond Road from Hwy. 54 for members of the Featherston Fishing Club.
The condition agreed to by Gaultney stated that the developer will either install the median break or will provide an irrevocable letter of credit from a bank approved by the county to cover the cost of the installation. Certificates of occupancy for any new commercial construction will not be issued until the median break is installed.
Gaultney last year told commissioners the development would represent a $32-33 million investment.
Originally rezoned from RC (rural conservation) to C-7 (major commercial shopping center) several years ago in accordance with the county’s 2006-2026 Comprehensive Plan, the 77-acre northeast quadrant of the Fischer Road/Hwy. 34 intersection was to be home to a Kohl’s department store that would serve as the anchor and would include a number of other retailers. But that was during the Great Recession and resulted in the eventual loss of the property by developer Scott Seymour after Kohl’s pulled out of the project.
