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What’s the latest for the Cumming City Center?
Property manager hired, land purchased for project
city center

On Monday, members of the Downtown Development Authority of Cumming took several steps toward making the proposed Cumming City Center a reality. 

At a brief meeting on Monday evening, the authority voted to approve the hiring of Jennifer Archer as property manager for the city center, accepted $2.5 million from the city for the project and moved ahead with the purchase of two tracts of land totaling about 14 acres for the project for about $2.2 million.

City Manager Phil Higgins said Archer was a resident of Cumming and lifelong resident of Forsyth County who had previously worked with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office in an administrative role.

“We think she’s going to be a great hire,” Higgins said. “She’s got a lot of energy for the position, so we look forward to bringing her on.”

Higgins said Archer was hired more for the day-to-day management of the center rather than its construction and would have plenty of research to do with the new project.

“The reason we’ve brought her in now is there is a great deal of groundwork that is going to have to be done to even get close to opening, we’re going to have to go out and develop relationships with potential leasers of spaces,” Higgins said. “She is going to be doing a lot of research on similar facilities and see how they’ve got things placed, how they market their facilities, just their overall business plan.”

The land discussed at the meeting would be bought from the same seller as the rest of the city center, who planned to use it for townhomes.

“We don’t have any plans for it in the immediate future. We’re going to hold it while we do this first phase of the center,” Higgins said. “Once we get the first phase of the center up and going, hopefully, it will be as successful as we all think it will be, then we’re going to turn to this other piece of property and determine would it be best for us to develop something on it or would it be better for us, at that point, to let someone else develop it.”

Higgins said owning the property would give the city more flexibility with the plans.

Mayor Troy Brumbalow announced plans for the city center last year. The city center will be located on Canton Highway and will abut Forsyth Central High School on a 75-acre plot of land. The development will feature an amphitheater, miniature golf, walking trails, park, space for businesses and a lake with a fountain.

Across Canton Highway, about 14 acres will also be donated to the city and will include other walking trails.

Forsyth Central and the city center will share a parking lot located northwest of the school’s football stadium.

Though the center will largely be green space and businesses, the Cumming Police Department and the city’s municipal court will also move to the development.

Plans show the park will be near the amphitheater, which will likely be used for Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, concerts, plays and other performances, and will include new memorials for veterans and public safety personnel.