CUMMING, Ga. — A developer is getting close to breaking ground on a massive project that could include a professional hockey arena in Forsyth County.
Channel 2 Action News broke the story in April 2023 about plans from car dealership mogul Vernan Krause to build a $3 billion development called The Gathering at South Forsyth. Its centerpiece would be an 18,000-seat pro hockey arena, even though the National Hockey League has not announced plans to expand.
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Krause’s development team recently secured a critical permit from Forsyth County to allow work to begin on the site along Georgia 400 near Union Hill Road.
“The site has all the zoning, entitlements and public funds ready to recruit the National Hockey League here to Forsyth County,” said Alex Warner, president and chief executive officer of the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce.
He said the developer acquired a land disturbance permit and is working with Kimley-Horn to solicit bids to level and grade the property, which could begin in the next 30 days.
“This is just the first step for them to actually move forward with some sort of development on that site,” he said.
Last year, Forsyth County commissioners voted unanimously to provide $225 million in bond financing contingent on the venue landing a pro hockey team.
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Warner said he’s encouraged by the announcement this week by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that the league will open a six-month process to look into starting a franchise in Texas, either in Houston or Austin. The league currently has 32 teams – an even number – and Warner said it’s likely the NHL would expand by adding two teams: one in Texas and one in Georgia.
“We, for one, are extremely excited about the news that came out of the NHL earlier this week,” Warner said.
He said the hockey fan base is robust in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.
“We wouldn’t have wasted this much time over four years if we did not think the market was here,” he said. “We have pulled Nielsen TV ratings; we have pulled merchandise purchasing sales.”
He said both are above the national average.
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Metro Atlanta did have two professional hockey teams: the Flames in the 1970s and the Thrashers, which left the market in 2011 after more than a decade. Forsyth County hockey fan Pete Bennie, who played hockey in high school, said the region has grown considerably with northern transplants, making the market ripe for a professional hockey team.
“It would be fantastic for me because it’s so close,” he said. “I think it would be a great asset.”
Sharon Goldmacher, a spokesperson for the Krause development group, said in an email that Krause “continues to work the plan and feels that we are on a great path with the NHL. Our hope, of course, is that if they decide to put a team in the west, that they will want to balance out the league with a team in the east.”
The Gathering at South Forsyth is nearly 40 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Despite its distance from the urban core, Warner said it’s an ideal site because of the region’s hockey fan base. He pointed to the Atlanta Braves making their home at Truist Park in Cobb County.
“Now every major development is following the mode of the Braves,” he said. “You go to where the fans are. And we have where the fans are.”
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