The Brookhaven Reporter reports that DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader called Sembler’s request for a 20-year, $52 million tax abatement of its Town Brookhaven project “effectively dead” at a July 15th meeting.

So what happens now?  Rader predicts that Sembler “should be breaking ground very soon on the rest of their project to the degree that the market will support it.  I think we are going to see that fully redeveloped, because that is an attractive place for people to be.”

h/t: Clairmont Heights Civic Association

Regardless of whether its due to the stagnant real estate market or the impending uphill battle against the DeKalb school board, the AJC is reporting that Sembler has told Commissioner Jeff Rader that they will be presenting a scaled back version of its plans for its mini-city at Briarcliff/N. Druid Hills Road to the school board this Friday.

Perhaps the real estate market, coupled with angry residents and an seemingly unwilling school board were a bit too much for the mighty Sembler.  We’ll have to wait ’til after the school board meeting tomorrow at 10:30a to see just how far they’ve scaled back the plan.

Ah…there’s nothing quite like the sweet smell of slightly less congestion.