It may be a lousy time to unload a house, but things aren’t so bad if you’re a developer looking to sell a huge swath of rural land to DeKalb County government.
A company that owns the land in southeast DeKalb is poised to reap three times more per acre than it paid two years ago. The County Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to pay $6 million for the parcel, a 92-acre stretch along the South River.
The money would come from the proceeds of bonds that were sold to buy and improve green space. Voters in DeKalb approved the bond programs in 2001 and 2006.
The property is near the Mall at Stonecrest, an area where growth is pushing new homes into previously rural areas. It’s part of a 658-acre parcel in DeKalb and Rockdale counties that a company called Browns Mill 212 Property bought for $13.2 million in summer 2006, according to county records.
County spokeswoman Kristie Swink declined to comment about the deal. “Because it’s still pending before the Board of Commissioners, we’re not at liberty to comment on it,” she said.
R. Lee Tucker Jr., a Lawrenceville lawyer who has represented the developer, did not return a message seeking comment left with a woman at his office Monday afternoon. County Commissioner Jeff Rader said he was concerned about the price, in part because appraisals based the value on proposed zoning that hasn’t been granted.
The parcel is zoned for single-family homes, but the county planning department last year asked commissioners to allow a mix of shops, offices and homes there. Commissioners, including Rader, approved a change to the long-range land use plan, designating the area as a “town center,” a designation allowing for denser use than the residential zoning.
Ordinarily, land owners take the next step and ask commissioners for new zoning, but commissioners have yet to change the zoning in this case.
Appraisers valued the property at between $40,000 an acre and $51,000 an acre based on the current residential zoning, according to county records. They said the land would be worth more under the proposed mixed-use zoning for a town center. Two of three appraisers still placed the land at $59,000 an acre under that scenario, but that was still less than the price county officials negotiated with the Browns Mill company. A third appraiser had a wildly divergent price of $204,000 an acre.
Rader, who represents north-central DeKalb, said the $66,000 an acre negotiated price is too high, especially in the current real estate market. “Look at what the market is doing now,” he said. “Any willing buyer would be highly valued. There are not that many people walking around with $6 million looking to buy,” he said.
Commissioner Lee May, who represents the area where the land is located, said the land is a bargain compared to parcels in more developed parts of the county.
“You want to get the biggest bang for your buck,” May said. “My No. 1 goal is to preserve as much green space in the southern part of the county as I can.”
