Drivers of high-end cars may soon have a unique facility in south Forsyth in which to store and show them.

On Tuesday, Forsyth County commissioners approved 4-0, with District 2 Commissioner Rick Swope absent, to start the process for a county-initiated rezoning of 25 acres off McFarland Parkway to community business district and restricted industrial district zonings for The Stable Motor Plaza, a high-end car storage facility meant for cars and outparcels.

“The clientele is anyone who drives a really nice car, so actually we did a study to find out where all the cars are in basically north Georgia,” said Jeff Beal, with developer Destination Development Partners.  “When we put the data in there, our study went from $125,000 or more registered vehicles in the Atlanta market.

“The reason that we chose this part of it is when we pulled out all the zip codes, there are over 3,500 cars registered north of Atlanta for $125,000 or more … there’s over 1,700 within five miles of this site.” 

Beal said the property will be evenly divided between the two residential districts and will feature a 24,000-square-foot event facility, car wash, commercial properties, coffee shops and restaurants, nature area and an out parcel for a high-end car dealership.

There will not be any residential units built with the project, and staying overnight will be prohibited.

The storage rooms will vary in size and have rollup doors that allow members in the indoor facility to check out and compare other cars. Most of the units will be sold, though some will be for rent.

“Most of these car owners own three or four cars that may be worth upwards of $800,000 total. Their homeowner’s insurance is going to cover about $150,000 of that, and they’ve got more and more cars, so this is a place for them to store it during the week,” said Brandan Lail with the group. “On a Saturday, they would come out, roll the doors up and it will be a community.

“I’m in aviation, so I think of what I do at our local airport with our airplanes — flip the doors up and we all gawk at each other’s airplanes.”

Beal said there may be some special car shows at the facility but that it would otherwise not be open to the public.

Tuesday’s approval started the process, and it will come back to a future meeting.