Cherokee County Braces for $500M in Development

CANTON, GA-Georgia developers continue to focus new mixed-use projects in once-rural Cherokee County, 35 miles north of Downtown Atlanta, according to preliminary plans filed with the Atlanta Regional Commission and local planning officials.

On the drawing boards are an estimated 16,000 single-family homes, apartments and townhome residences, at least 500,000 sf of retail and about 200,000 sf of office and other commercial space. The estimated total development cost is at least $500 million, according to area marketers and construction sources.

Atlanta developer Stephen H. Macauley’s planned 4,000-acre, 12,000 home community in west Cherokee could turn out to be the most challenging of the four newly planned projects, according to area brokers. The project will have apartments, townhomes, senior living residences and single-family homes. Macauley plans a model environmental community surrounded by forest land. The project is called A Village in the Forest and will take 10 t0 20 years to complete, the developer estimates.