Suwanee Town Center Plan

Suwanee is a rapidly growing small town in metropolitan Atlanta. In April 2001, the City began a planning process to “Imagine Old Town Suwanee”.

The plan focused on renewing the economic vitality and preserving the character of the historic core and surroundings under the purview of a newly-created Downtown Development Authority. Urban Collage/Lord Aeck Sargent crafted a public participation process including three workshops and development simulations to shape the community’s vision. This vision included creating a new, 60-acre, mixed-use Town Center in close proximity to the old downtown, focused on a new public park. The park, town center and historic core are linked by a network of streets, sidewalks and trails that provide a framework for compact housing and commercial space. UC/LAS worked with city staff and a design review board to draft a set of Development Standards to shape the character of the Old Town District and its two nodes, and continued on as development planners for the Town Center itself (in partnership with Clark Patterson and Associates).

Implementation Highlights:

• Old Town Suwanee Development Standards adopted by City Council in summer of 2002
• 21 acres purchased by the city for the new town center, including a 10-acre $3-4 million public park and amphitheater funded by greenspace bonds and Park opened in Summer of 2004
• Over 80,000 square feet of mixed-use retail, office and residential
• County branch library constructed in 2004
• An additional 40 acres of residential development adjacent to Town Center
• Project received funding for $1.1 million dollars in pedestrian improvements by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC)
• This project received a 2004 GPA Award for Outstanding Plan Implementation and Georgia Trend’s/GMA’s 2005 “Trendsetter” award

Practice Areas