Mixed-use development at Cumberland Mall 20% done, opens in 2024

Cumberland Mall will be seeing even more activity in a few years’ time.

Construction is underway on a major redevelopment of portions of the mall’s sprawling parking area, which will one day include two 10-story office towers, a 315-unit apartment building and retail space.

Chris McCoy, the mall’s general manager and a member of the Cumberland Community Improvement District’s board, told the MDJ Tuesday construction is about 20% complete on the redevelopment project. Work thus far has been on the residential portion of the project.

First proposed in 2020, county officials and developers alike said the project would be “transformative” for the already bustling area. The undertaking to add density to the mall property, which first opened in 1973, hopes to replicate the success of the nearby Battery Atlanta.

McCoy said the construction shouldn’t affect the comings and goings of mall customers, and Brookfield Properties (which manages the mall) expects work to be done in early 2024.

Cobb County, meanwhile, continues to move forward with the construction of its 29th fire station on the mall’s premises, a project that’s been in the works for years.

The fire station will sit on a parcel of less than an acre on the mall’s southern side, alongside Cumberland Boulevard. It’s expected to fill a service gap in the area given the nearest stations are Fire Station 5 in Vinings, and No. 19 near the intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads. Both are around a mile from the area.

The county agreed to a contract of nearly $1.3 million for the property in May, and then signed off on a revised contract this week which adds language specifying Cobb is pursuing the property “for a public purpose” and under threat of condemnation. The price was not revised.

Finally, there still remains the property of another county facility relocating to the mall property — the Cumberland bus transfer center, which sits on Cumberland Boulevard across the street from the mall.

County officials have longed discussed expanding the transfer center (currently a series of covered bus stops) to a standalone facility with bays and an interior waiting area. Cobb commissioners agreed Tuesday to undertake a study to determine how best to move forward with a new transfer center in the area, which could still end up on mall property.