New Apartment Complex on Level Creek Road in "Downtown" Sugar Hill

If you've been curious about the grading off of Level Creek Road close to the back corner of The Local (the apartments across from City Hall), you're not alone. I've been getting questions about it. When they started clearing the land, I figured it must be for a single-family home they had approved off of Roosevelt Circle in February 2022. But, as the clearing became more substantial, I began to wonder, too.

The 37+ acre lot is the future site of a complex currently slated to contain 302 apartment units, townhomes, and a commercial district upon its completion. The apartment complex will be developed first.

This project was approved in November 2018, six months before I began my watch over the City of Sugar Hill government.

The City now has a couple of pictures for the project on its Interactive Development Map. However, they only include a rendering of one of the buildings in the eight-building apartment complex, and a site plan for the apartment portion of the project.

The agenda section of the website includes documentation for the project with the agenda for the City Council work session where the Council initially hosted a public discussion of the project.

https://cityofsugarhill.com/csh-agenda/11232/

The overall site plan includes three tracts. The 7.67-acre tract closest to Spring Hill Drive will feature 61,750 square feet of commercial space with 309 parking spaces. The staff report states, "Project access is proposed at a single right-in/right-out driveway on PIB and unrestricted access driveway on Spring Hill Drive. Secondary access to Springhill Drive is provided by a new street proposed along the rear of the property which connects to Level Creek Road."

Initially, the Planning Department recommended that drive-through restaurants be a prohibited use, and the Planning Commission agreed to that condition. During the City Council meeting, the developer requested the removal of that condition, and the Council agreed to remove it.

The 12.04-acre middle tract will contain the 302-unit apartment complex consisting of 8 buildings. The site plan shows 427 parking spaces, and the City placed a condition on the project limiting the spaces to 1.5 per unit.

The 14.58-acre tract closest to Level Creek Road will include townhouses. The City of Sugar Hill required the developers to construct a new public road (currently known only as "New Road A") between Level Creek Road and Spring Hill Drive, and a new access road will connect New Road A and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and run between the restaurant and retail tract and the apartment complex tract.

Although the project was approved four and a half years ago, legal disputes arose between the developers regarding the construction of the new roads required by the City. Those disputes were only settled last year. If you're curious, all of that information is here:

https://casetext.com/case/donrob-invs-v-360-residential-llc