The Deck Is Done. What's Next for Old Town Lilburn, Site by Site?

"These reports are recommendations and do not represent approved City projects." That line appeared in three issues of The Lilburn Loop, the city's newsletter, between September 21 and November 9. Each time it ran next to the news that Toole Design had finished its final recommendations for the Downtown Master Concept and East Old Town.

It's a useful sentence to remember when you walk past the Railroad Avenue parking deck. The deck has been open and free since October 23, with its entrance on Railroad Avenue. The Porchline, RangeWater's apartment project of roughly 269 units, is welcoming residents, and its final phase is set to finish by the end of 2026. The DDA and RangeWater plan a ribbon cutting for December 2. The new restaurants and storefronts are a different story. Each of the remaining downtown sites has its own obstacle, and in every case that obstacle is a permit, a street design or a repair estimate. None of them is described as waiting on a tenant.

Five sites, five different stages

Most of what follows comes from the Lilburn Downtown Development Authority's October 21 draft minutes and the city's newsletters from October 26 and November 9. Ordered from finished to furthest out, the sites line up like this:

The corner with the most restaurant space is privately owned

The project closest to breaking ground isn't on DDA land. It's a private commercial development at Main Street and US 29, valued at about $7.5 to $8 million. The October minutes describe roughly nine tenant spaces: two to three sit-down restaurants, two to three walk-up restaurant spaces, and a hardscaped corner with a water feature. The project has to follow the city's design guidelines.

According to the minutes, city staff met with Gwinnett County plan reviewers to help the developers move their land disturbance permit toward approval, and only "a couple of remaining items" were outstanding. Once the permit is approved, the developers plan to buy the property from its current owners. City staff also discussed a bond-for-title and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement. If the developers fund about $100,000 in legal fees to set it up, staff expects to bring it to the DDA board by the end of the year. The minutes estimate the developers would save $1.5 to $2 million in property taxes over the life of the deal.

So the plan with the most restaurant seats in downtown Lilburn currently depends on a county permit and a board vote on taxes. A DDA agenda item on that arrangement in December would show the corner is still moving.

This corner also sits on the stretch of US 29 the city is studying. At the mayor's October town hall, Assistant City Manager Andrew Thompson discussed plans to slow traffic and make Highway 29 safer and more walkable between Pine Street and Killian Hill Road, according to the city's October 26 newsletter.

First & Main has a design contract and a 2027 bid date

The DDA's own large site is the 2.61-acre assemblage at First Avenue and Main Street, and site work there is complete. In September and October the DDA invited developers to submit concepts for 21 townhomes, a restaurant and two public parks. On October 21 the board approved three agreements with Gwinnett County's Department of Water Resources covering sewer, water main and meters at the assemblage. That's the standard county paperwork for accepting finished infrastructure.

At a special called meeting on November 4, the DDA approved a contract for architectural and engineering services for a commercial building on the site. The city says those plans should be ready for bid in the first quarter of 2027, and then the project can move into permitting. The city also calls the plans and renderings "conceptual and subject to change."

That puts First & Main at roughly the stage the US 29 corner has already passed. Even on schedule, permitting for this site starts after the bid date in 2027.

On Main Street, the storefronts depend on the street

The most ambitious idea is the Main Street "flush street." A flush street is a curbless design where the road, sidewalk and storefront edge sit at one level. Toole Design delivered 10% plans on September 21. The design covers the DDA's 0.77-acre parcel at 100 Main Street and the properties across the street. That's about 27 parcels, with room for storefronts 25 to 35 feet wide.

The details explain why the buildings come after the street. The city is working out how to fit existing utilities around the new design. That includes moving connections such as water meters to the rear of future buildings, possibly with new water lines along secondary streets. An upcoming call with Toole Design should clarify which parcels can share a slab, and the minutes note that this affects how vertical construction would be phased and financed. The DDA's first step will likely be a property trade with the city, giving up part of its 0.77-acre parcel for right-of-way so the 100-foot corridor lines up.

The October 26 newsletter says the survey work will also clarify right-of-way boundaries to support "a more attractive, walkable, and accessible streetscape." Before any storefront goes up, the city needs a finished street design, settled property lines and moved utilities. Final approval and funding still belong to the Mayor and Council, through the five-year Capital Improvement Plan and the annual budget.

57 Railroad Avenue has changed plans three times since 2020

The building with the longest history sits next to the new deck. According to the DDA's 2021 request for proposals, 57 Railroad Avenue is a two-story, 29,112-square-foot building used mainly for metal fabrication since 1969. Since the DDA bought it, the plans have changed several times:

• June 2020: The DDA bought the 2.15-acre site planning to tear down both structures for public parking.
• 2021: After interest from private investors, the DDA asked for proposals to turn the large building into a "community-minded, family-oriented brewery" under a lease-purchase deal. The plan included a new public road between Railroad Avenue and First Avenue.
• May 2024: The DDA authorized bids to demolish portions of the property and its right-of-way, tied to building the prefabricated parking deck.
• December 2025: A team led by Charles Wilkinson presented "The Depot," a regional entertainment hub with a food hall, an "18-hour coffee-to-cocktail" concept, coworking, event space, and 15 entertainment attractions the community would help choose. The team estimated $12 to $20 million and proposed splitting the feasibility study costs 50/50 with the DDA.

At that December meeting, City Manager Jenny Simpkins called the Depot budget "far more realistic" than earlier proposals. The board said the costs to the DDA and the city had to be clearly defined before any decision.

The DDA now has a structural analysis of the building in hand. The engineer's first estimate is at least $150,000 to bring the building up to current standards. That number assumes half of the metal cladding comes off, and it covers foundation and wind-load work for a building this old. Any developer or tenant improvements would come on top of that. The study was paid for with 2023 SPLOST money because the site could carry a road from First Avenue through to Railroad Avenue, as shown in Toole Design's master concept. A road through the property has been part of the plans since 2021. What's still open is how much of the building is left once it's built.

The construction fencing and staging equipment from the RangeWater project are gone from the front of the building, so for the first time in a while you can get a clear look at it.

Dates to watch through early 2027

• Late 2026: The final phase of The Porchline is set to finish by the end of the year. The fence between the greenway trail and the apartments is expected to come down once all three phases are done, likely in December.
• December 2: The DDA and RangeWater plan a ribbon cutting for the parking deck and The Porchline.
• By year-end: Staff expects to bring the Main and US 29 tax arrangement to the DDA board, if the developers fund the legal work.
• First quarter of 2027: Plans for the First & Main commercial building are due to be ready for bid.

DDA meetings and their minutes are posted in the city's Agenda Center. The Toole Design reports are on the city's Downtown Master Concept page.

If you own near Old Town and are wondering how a new storefront block or restaurant corner nearby could affect your plans for your home, I'm glad to go through it with you, project by project. Audrey Bankhead follows these downtown decisions closely, and I'm always happy to talk through what they could mean for your street. Let's Connect.