Cousins Properties has implemented Phase II of construction at Emory Point in the space previously occupied by the Emory Inn, which was demolished in June of this year.
The new buildings, which are expected to be completed spring of 2015, will include 307 apartment units and 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, according to Jason Frost, vice president of Cousins Properties.
Mike Mandl, Emory's executive vice president for business and administration, handled the planning and financial aspects of the construction.
"The vision for Emory Point is to create an intellectually and socially vibrant campus edge to the north – one that fosters academic community," Mandl said.
Emory Point opened Phase I last fall. Phase II of Emory Point will provide housing, shopping and dining options for faculty, staff and students that are conveniently located near campus.
Frost said that at this point in time he is unable to release specific information about the plans for future buildings.
According to Mandl, the plan to develop the 15-acre site on Clifton Road was approved in 2007 or 2008 and involved building Emory Point in three phases, resulting in the demolition of the Inn for the second phase.
He added that Phase I is complete. The site formerly occupied by the Inn, he said, will be about half the size of Phase I.
"It was a little worse than a Holiday Inn but better than a motel," college sophomore Juan Jose Pinto said about his stay at the Inn.
Pinto added that he is excited about the renovations and hopes to live in the Emory Point Phase II housing someday.
On the other hand, college junior Abby Olinde spent a weekend at the Inn with her parents and, though she said she agrees Emory Point Phase II will be nice for students, she expressed confusion as to why the University would knock down the Inn when there are already so few hotels nearby.
Yet, according to a 2009 University Press Release, 127 guest rooms and 6,000 square feet of additional meeting space were added to the Emory Conference Center Hotel in 2009, along with a bowling lane and parking garage.
In a statement to the Wheel, Mandl wrote that the Conference Center expansions were intended to account for the number of rooms that had been lost from the demolition of the Inn.
– By Naomi Maisel
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