City of Sugar Hill, October 25, 2018
The City of Sugar Hill’s E Center project has won the Community Redevelopment Award from Partnership Gwinnett.
Scheduled to open in the fall of 2018, the E Center is a $46 million mixed-use development owned and operated by the City of Sugar Hill’s Downtown Development Authority. The City of Sugar Hill has actively engaged its citizens to determine what would make the city the premiere place to live, eat, drink, shop, and play, and the E Center is a direct response to what citizens have asked for: a place to be Entertained, Engage with others, Eat and drink, Enjoy as their own, Exercise, and foster Excitement in the community.
The Mayor and Council, city leadership, and community champions have worked together to develop a vision of a walkable downtown rich with shared experiences that begin over a meal shared with neighbors, concerts from world-renowned artists, and opportunities to experience arts, recreation, music, and special events for unforgettable moments, all with the backdrop of a thriving business environment.
The E Center is the next step in realizing this vision and serves as the focal point of creating a vibrant downtown. The project sits adjacent to city hall and faces the city’s main street, West Broad Street. The 180,000sf E Center facility is home to the Eagle Theatre, a 406-seat, Art Deco style performing arts theatre that will be the venue for Sugar Hill’s performing arts groups, The Players Guild at Sugar Hill and Broad St. Concert Band. The theatre has already attracted nationally-touring acts in addition to community interest and will provide a robust variety of entertainment programming.
The E Center campus also houses a gymnasium, community rooms and over 51,000sf of leasable commercial space and storage. The facility has space for nine restaurants, retail shops and class-A office space. A public promenade provides gathering space with outdoor seating and cascading waterfalls, all connected to the city hall parking deck via pedestrian bridge. The entire complex sits on top of an underground 100-space parking facility.
As the project nears completion, the city’s recreation, events, and economic development staff work collaboratively on programming to support a mix of businesses, restaurant, office, and retail tenants and link the E Center with already existing amenities including the city’s splash park and city green.
The rear promenade of the E Center overlooks The Bowl at Sugar Hill, the city’s award-winning outdoor concert venue. The Bowl boasts a capacity of 1,800 seats as well as over $4 million in recent upgrades to the venue and adjacent plaza. The improvements include enlarged staging, a state-of-the-art “front of house”, improved load-in and loud-out and the construction of ten leasable suites. Other additions include a splash park and community plaza, all designed to enhance the entertainment experience and bring high quality experience to downtown Sugar Hill.
Events at The Bowl, The Dawn P. Gober Community Plaza and the Splash Park draw over 75,000 people annually to Downtown Sugar Hill. The on-boarding of the new E Center, along with the Bowl complex, creates a destination for the entire downtown region.
Residents will benefit from the impact of the E Center for years to come with steadily increasing property values, new jobs in downtown, and responsive development.
Completion of the E Center has spurred additional private investment in downtown Sugar Hill and is likely to serve as the engine for continued downtown development. Two additional private sector projects totaling over $125 million in investment will break ground in fall 2018, just after the E Center’s ribbon cutting, bringing over 500 residential units and new commercial opportunities to downtown Sugar Hill.
