WOODSTOCK — A plan to build a soccer stadium, hundreds of apartments, and tens of thousands of square feet of shops and restaurants on a 12-acre tract in Woodstock is dead after the city council voted it down Sept. 14.
What happened: The council rejected a proposal called “The Pitch,” brought by developer Freestone Realty, that would have transformed a 12.81-acre site at the southeast corner of Reagan Street and Ridgewalk Parkway into a mixed-use development anchored by a 2,500-seat soccer stadium. The motion to approve the rezoning and a permit allowing apartments failed 4-2, killing the entire package, including parking variances tied to the project.
The full scope of what was rejected: The proposal was not simply a stadium. All of the following were bundled into a single rezoning request that required council approval:
- A 2,500-seat soccer stadium intended for semi-professional and professional teams, to be operated by Georgia Impact Soccer Club
- Between 185 and 236 apartments, depending on which project document is used
- Up to 26,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space
- Parking variances that relied heavily on the use of Woodstock City Church’s lot across Ridgewalk Parkway
Why the parking mattered: The stadium had no plan to park all its attendees on-site. Draft documents called for the developer to contribute toward improvements to Woodstock City Church’s parking lot nearby, with the city’s Downtown Development Authority making payments to the church when the lot was used for stadium events. Residents and at least one community group, Woodstock CAN, raised concerns about people having to cross Ridgewalk Parkway on foot to get from that lot to the stadium.
What the developer pitched: Freestone Realty described the project as a “mini-Battery,” a reference to the mixed-use entertainment district surrounding Truist Park in Cobb County. The company said the project would be privately funded, with revenue from the apartments making the stadium and retail portions financially viable.
How it got here: The project had been working through the city’s approval process since early 2026. The city’s Planning Commission recommended approval 4-2 on April 2. The full council held a public hearing April 27 and voted 5-0 to table it, asking for more information on traffic, parking, pedestrian safety, and the development agreement. The project came back Aug. 10 but was tabled again because two council members were absent and the council did not want to decide a contested case without everyone present. The Sept. 14 meeting was the final vote.
One number that kept changing: The city’s official agenda listed 236 multifamily rental units. Later project documents and the revised zoning ordinance reportedly put the number at 185. The discrepancy was never publicly resolved before the council voted.
B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
