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

Think these 200 folks turned out to cheer on Sembler’s request for a 20 year tax abatement on the Brookhaven project?

Think again.

Lots of in-depth articles in this Sunday’s AJC, including a look at the influence of Georgia’s largest road builder on State transportation legislation and a closer look at Georgia’s generous movie tax credit.

But none left me as unsettled as Ty Tagami’s report about Sembler’s request that DeKalb County fork over $52 million to help them “finish” the 54 acre mixed-use project near the Brookhaven MARTA station.

Why unsettled?

Because on the one hand, I have serious issues with Sember’s prior perversions of “mixed-use”, not to mention watching a cash-strapped county hand over a briefcase or six full of 100s to said developer (that’s how it works right?) Also, as Burrell Ellis has stated, it sets a bad precedent in the dark world of money-starved developers.

But at the same time, it’s mixed-use near a MARTA station.  Can the project survive if Sembler walks away from the project and leaves a big hole in the ground?  Will someone else pick it up? Also, how is it different from the federal government borrowing up to its ears to provide a cushion of employment during an economic squeeze?

I wasn’t born yesterday.  I recognize that there has always been a special back-scratching relationship between government and developers.  In this specific case though, I think there are enough concrete reasons to justify my unstated desire to watch Sembler squirm.

So, for right now…I’m coming down in favor of the hole.  Once the recession ends, let another developer, who doesn’t want $54 million, have a go.

As for the county, we’ll see what they decide next month.

The AJC reports that residents at the Gables owned property at N. Driud/Briarcliff have received a letter saying that the “sale of the property will no longer occur as intended.”  Most take that to mean that the once controversial “Town Briarcliff” project is now dead.

Good riddance.

As many of you may know, Sembler’s big-box meets mixed use – with a smattering of poorly designed parking and traffic flow – projects have never been my cup o’ tea.

Maybe Sembler now is just pooling its resources to develop some mega-mixed-use up at the old GM Doraville plant.

Omnivore Atlanta has the official statement announcing that Five Seasons’ battle with Sembler over their Prado location is officially over and everything is now peachy keen between the two companies.  (At least as well as things can be after you claim that your counterpart thinks you’re worth more “dead than alive”.)

I guess raising a public stink really paid off for Five Seasons.

h/t: Inside the Sprawl