What Milton's Option on the Verizon Campus Means for the Drive Down Highway 9

"Tonight preserves the option," City Manager Steve Krokoff said after Milton's City Council voted on Sept. 21. "It does not surrender the (final) decision."

The vote covers 51.32 acres at One, Two and Three Verizon Place, an office campus off Windward Parkway between Deerfield Parkway and Morris Road. The proposed price is $26.25 million. If you live at The Manor Golf & Country Club, the route from Manor Club Drive to Three Verizon Place maps at about 7.7 miles, or roughly 18 minutes, mostly down GA-9 South. That distance matters. Mayor Peyton Jamison has described the purchase as part of a deliberate plan: put Milton's active, city-owned parks on the dense perimeter so the rest of the city stays quiet. The next two months will show whether the numbers support that plan.

What the Council Actually Approved

The unanimous vote approved a purchase-and-sale agreement. It did not complete a purchase. The approval put $100,000 in escrow and started a 60-day due-diligence period. During that time the city can walk away for any reason and get its deposit back. City staff recommended a second public Council vote before Milton commits. At that point another $500,000 would go into escrow.

Counting 60 days from Sept. 21 puts the end of due diligence around Nov. 20. Closing is scheduled for on or before Dec. 1, 2026. Verizon can push that date back by up to 120 days to put up a temporary antenna. Nobody signed up to speak on the item during public comment.

That same night, the Council unanimously approved a 30-day pause on new rezoning, use-permit, site-plan and land-disturbance applications in an area bounded by Highway 9, Webb Road, GA 400 and Windward Parkway. The resolution says the acquisition "may materially affect development expectations in and around the property." The city said no pending applications would be affected. Unless it is extended, the pause runs out around Oct. 21. It is part of the same move: hold the area still while the city decides what it wants there.

Why a Corporate Campus Sits Empty on Windward Parkway

The sellers are Cellco Partnership and GTE Wireless, both Verizon Wireless entities. Verizon told The Roundabout that no employees have worked on the site since 2020. Staff who were once based there now work hybrid schedules from Verizon's campus at 5055 North Point Parkway in Alpharetta, or work from home. The company says the sale affects no jobs. A Verizon spokesperson described the move as "consolidating our local office footprint." Verizon will keep an antenna on the property after the sale, under an easement written into the agreement.

The city does not want the three buildings. The staff report calls them "liabilities that the City anticipates demolishing." It places the value in "the land, road frontage, location, and proximity to the City's two previously acquired Deerfield parcels."

The Price, Measured Two Ways

Whether $26.25 million is a good price depends on what you count. Fulton County's 2026 assessment of the two parcels splits into land and buildings, and the city places no value on the buildings.

Against the full assessment, the price is about half. Against the land alone, Milton would pay about $4 million over the assessor's figure, plus the cost of demolition. Verizon appealed the county's 2025 value, and the 2026 figure stayed the same. The $90,134.75 in annual city property tax would come off the rolls at closing. Any portions the city later sells would go back on.

Jamison answered the price question in writing:

"The county's $50 million values an office campus. We'd be buying land for a park with a mix of commercial uses. The buildings are liabilities to the city, not assets."

The city does not yet have an independent appraisal. The mayor and city manager both say the 60 days are for that appraisal, an environmental review and demolition estimates.

How Milton Would Pay for It

The city expects to pay cash from its pay-as-you-go capital program and does not plan to borrow. According to the agenda packet, the Capital Projects Fund held $53.3 million on June 30. Of that, $22.9 million was already set aside, and unspent, for a new active athletic complex in Deerfield. Much of the rest is assigned to projects such as Fire Station 45 and the trail connection to the Big Creek Greenway.

Paying in cash would use all of the athletic-complex money and more. To close the gap, the plan relies on three things:

1. Parcel sales. The new Milton Development Authority would study whether selling selected "marketable edges" of the property could lower the city's net cost and create taxable commercial uses. Each sale would need its own Council vote.
2. A grant. Council voted to apply for a federal outdoor recreation grant, administered by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, that pays half of land and park costs up to $15 million. A full award would require a matching $15 million from the city. Krokoff called it "a potential opportunity to reduce the local cost of the project, not funding that should be described as already secured or even depended upon."
3. A Finance check. The staff report asks Finance to confirm the funding source, and to model what happens if parcel sales come late or fall short, before the second vote.

The Athletic Complex Already Had a Home

This isn't the city's first purchase on Deerfield Parkway. In July 2024, Milton bought 21.37 acres at 300 Deerfield Parkway from Crescent Communities for $8 million. That December it bought about 3 acres next door for $750,000. Adding the Verizon land would give the city 75.74 acres in Deerfield, bought for $35 million before demolition, cleanup or construction.

Milton has been planning the original 24.42 acres as an "active park," with athletic fields and other facilities. Lose Design drafted the concept work. Residents reviewed it at open houses on Jan. 14 and March 25, 2025, at Milton Municipal Court on Highway 9. A final draft concept went to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board on May 15, 2025. The Verizon campus sits across Deerfield Parkway from that site. Owning both would let the city plan the fields, trails and open space as one district instead of fitting them onto a single parcel.

Jamison said he expects the athletic facilities to come first. Land not needed for recreation would be sold to private developers, and the existing buildings would come down. "Our goal is to start construction on the athletic complex in the first quarter of next year," he wrote.

The Policy Behind the Location

For north Milton, the mayor's reason for choosing this site matters more than the acreage. He called Deerfield "one of the densest, most walkable parts of Milton and the area with the least access to public recreation." Then he described a citywide plan:

"It also puts a stake in the ground: we are serious about putting active, city owned parks along Milton's perimeter, where the density already is, so that the rural heart of Milton stays preserved as greenspace, with less traffic."

He was also direct about the alternative: "Quite frankly, some of what we were seeing from prospective developers did not align with Milton's long term vision."

From Manor Club Drive, this means the city's biggest planned investment in organized sports would sit near GA 400, about 18 minutes south on GA-9. It would not be on the roads closer to home. The broader South Deerfield work points the same way. In August, city staff and Canvas Planning Group presented early concepts for greenspace, retail, office, hotel and mixed-use development along southern Deerfield Parkway and selected Highway 9 parcels. Staff stressed that these were concepts, not a finished plan. The trail network is also moving toward the same corridor. In September, a city contractor started building the Cogburn Road segment of Milton's connection to the Big Creek Greenway, which links trails on Webb Road, Cogburn Road, Morris Road and McGinnis Ferry Road.

The Dates That Decide It

The Development Authority's first session on Sept. 22 was organizational. Members went over the board's role and legal limits, postponed electing officers, and then went into executive session. The seven directors are Steve Golden, Todd Harkleroad, Penn Hodge, Jan Jacobus, Roger Lasby, Brian McNeese and Taylor Smith. The city's appointment release spells one surname "Lusby." The city says the public is welcome at Authority meetings.

The city has not listed a separate public listening session on the Verizon property for October or November. The second Council vote that staff recommended has not been put on a specific agenda. Jamison has said what would end the deal: "If the numbers don't hold up, the city can terminate."

Decisions like this one shape what north Milton looks like for years. At The Jenny Doyle Group, we follow these votes closely for the homeowners we serve at The Manor and across Milton. If you want to talk through what the Deerfield plan could mean for your own property and long-term plans, we would welcome the chance to Schedule a Private Consultation.