The Georgia Baptist Mission Board needs to sell its 40-acre property located in Gwinnett County, Ga., and it has a buyer who wants to build a mixed-use development with 600 apartments and five office buildings.
But members of the Gwinnett County Commission denied the request, saying they prefer a more intensely commercial project at the site, not housing. The developer, multi-family residential developer JLB Partners, has said it will not do the project if it cannot include housing. An earlier proposal by Toll Brothers to build 113 townhouses on the site also was nixed by county officials.
The Baptist property is located adjacent to the Gas South District, which includes a hockey arena, convention center and entertainment venues.
When the Georgia Baptist Mission Board built the 175,000-square-foot building in 2006, it was designed to house about 300 staff members. Today, about 33 people work in the building most weekdays.
The Georgia convention has experienced a series of reductions in income that have led to layoffs and downsizing in programs. The state convention includes about 3,600 churches with 1.5 million members. It is one of the largest state conventions affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Georgia Baptist officials have not disclosed the amount of the proposed sale.
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