New plans in works for ex-theme park site
The Villages at Red Top is being promoted by Atlanta’s Jacoby Development.
Jacoby Development is proposing a major mixed-use development on property just south of Cartersville that was once targeted for a major high-tech theme park. The effort to develop the Avatron Smart Park fell apart about a year ago.
The new project, spread across 1,150 acres, is being dubbed Villages at Red Top. The development plan, posted on the company website, calls for three villages: Hillside, Lakeside and Etowah. It envisions as many as 1,400 single-family homes and 600 multi-family units. Trails, a golf course and water recreation access are all included in the plan.
The commercial district would model each street on an iconic music street from across the country including Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Beale Street in Memphis.
The acreage is surrounded on the north by Ga. 293, on the east by Red Top Mountain Road and Old Alabama Road, on the west by Paga Mine Road. The primary access points would be off Red Top Mountain Road and Paga Mine Road.
Jacoby was responsible for the Atlantic Station project in downtown Atlanta, site of the historic old Atlantic Steel Mill.
The Avatron Smart Park was going to feature rides and technological adventures that were linked to the Hunger Games and Divergent movie themes along with Step Up. Plans for the park were scrapped when CEO Dave Garrett III said one of his key partners had to suspend participation.
Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said he could not comment on the Villages at Red Top proposal, but did confirm that local legislation to enable residents in Bartow County to vote on the creation of Tax Allocation District financing packages to enhance similar development opportunities has been put forth in the General Assembly.
“We are positioning the county to be able to do TADs,” Taylor said.
TAD financing involves the establishment of a baseline for a property value, and as the property is developed, an agreed upon portion of the increase in tax value is returned to the developer for a specific period of time to help offset the development costs.
Residents of Bartow County would be allowed to vote on that issue during the statewide primary election this year.
Taylor said that TAD financing would be beneficial to any future development on the Paga Mine property, whether a theme park or a mixed-use residential and commercial development, because of the nature of the land which was stripped away during a period of ochre mining.
Emerson Mayor Al Pallone said, “Obviously nothing is concrete yet, so until it become concrete I don’t like talking about it.”