The Riverview Landing development on the Chattahoochee River in Smyrna is under construction, but details regarding its second phase won’t be finalized in the immediate future.
During its Monday night meeting, the Smyrna city council unanimously tabled site plans for a 62-acre portion of the development between Nichols Drive and Dickerson Drive.
Originally a Jamestown Properties project, Ardent Cos. now owns Riverview Landing, with Prestwick Cos. developing the under-construction first phase. The city council first approved Ardent’s scaled-down version of the project in March 2017.
“What’s been tabled is the overall plan for putting the pieces together,” said Ron Fennel, who represents the area on the council.
The project looks much different under Ardent than it did under Jamestown, and the tabled zoning request dealt with altering the original plans for Riverview.
Related: Construction photos for phase one of Riverview Landing
While the plan and building elevations changes were officially tabled indefinitely, Fennel said it won’t necessarily be that long until they make their way back on the agenda.
“When you go through a development this complex, with this many pieces, (the developer) has a lot of dance partners they’re trying to negotiate with,” said Fennel “They have their own partnership strategy and agreements, but the original plan we approved was a broad concept. These are the specifics they want to put in place once they have individual dance partners on board.”
Fennel added that he’s meeting with representatives from Ardent on Thursday to discuss plans for a 12-acre city park inside the project. The city and developer are discussing a plan where Ardent would donate the land to Smyrna, providing public access to the Chattahoochee River itself. Fennel hopes the city can install public restroom facilities, among other amenities. The city limits now reach the river thanks to annexations related to the project.
“We’ve used our parks and recreation department and our public works department to ascertain the viability of us taking responsibility on an ongoing basis for maintenance of the river frontage,” he said.
According to a press release sent several months ago by Prestwick, the first phase, The Eddy at Riverview Landing, will open in the spring of 2019. There will be 310 Class A apartments, a coffee shop, a community theater, a kayak launch, walking and biking trails, and a public park that will become a Smyrna city park upon completion.
Riverview Landing detached house rendering (from City of Smyrna website)
Per project documents on the city’s website, the second phase of Riverview Landing will include a mix of around 300 townhomes and 60 detached houses. The first phase is multifamily units, potentially with a coffee shop.
In the works in some form or another since 2008, Fennel said the project will bring a lot to the city of Smyrna once its various phases begin coming together.
“I’m excited about it,” Fennel said. “This is just over a mile of frontage on the Chattahoochee River I’d love to see the citizens of Smyrna have access to it.”
