Peachtree Corners Residents Get a Say on the Old CinéBistro, but Only on What Survives the Cuts

"What they're going to come back to us with initially is probably a point where we start eliminating options before we ask the community what their thoughts are."

City Manager Brian Johnson said that in a late-September interview with Peachtree Corners Life. It is the clearest explanation yet of how the dark theater at Town Center will get its next life. The community meeting everyone is waiting for is still to come. The step that shapes what residents will choose from is happening now, inside a consultant's market study, and most of its effect will be over by the time the public sees anything.

Why the city bought the building

The theater closed in December 2025, and the building beside Town Green went up for lease. Peachtree Corners Magazine reported that when owner Fuqua Development began marketing the space, some of the proposals worried city leaders about whether they fit what the community expected for such a central spot.

On May 26, the City Council approved a $3.25 million purchase of the roughly 2.18-acre site and its 33,000-square-foot building. Johnson explained the reasoning in the city's release: "This was a strategic move to ensure we are not reacting to someone else's plan, but instead shaping our own. The only way to have full control over the future use of this property was to own it outright." Mayor Mike Mason described Town Center as "a gathering place for our residents" and said the goal was a use that "adds to that experience."

The June report said the city would hire professionals for a feasibility study, and that job went to JLL.

The three paths on the table

Johnson laid out the brief the city gave JLL. There are three pathways, and each would change Town Center in a very different way:

1. Adaptive reuse. A new user moves into the existing footprint and exterior and changes only the inside. Johnson said this route involves no exterior construction.
2. Scrape and rebuild. The building comes down and something bigger replaces it.
3. An intermediate version. Johnson gave two examples. The end of the building facing Town Green could be cut back and renovated so it opens toward the green. Or an addition could go onto the surface parking lot next door.

The city has already said what it wants from any of the three. The June report listed its priorities as activating the space through the day and evening, complementing the businesses already there, and giving residents places to gather. These are the same qualities that have made Town Green work since it opened in April 2019.

How an idea gets cut before the meeting

Johnson used indoor pickleball as an example to show how JLL's work narrows the list, and he said plainly that he was not predicting the outcome. His example shows three ways a proposed use can fail.

A fourth limit is cost. Johnson said a scrape-and-rebuild might come back with a finding like "you could do it, but to do certain things it'll be a hundred million dollars, and you've got to go find a private partner."

This is why the order of events matters. When residents get to the community meeting, they will see "what the market can support, what developers are looking to do in our area," in Johnson's words, and then be asked, "Are we missing anything that's not on this list?" The public conversation starts from a list that has already been trimmed. An idea that doesn't survive the ceiling-height test or the competition test will probably arrive as a rejected option with a reason attached, if it shows up at all.

Where things stand as of mid-October

Here is what the public record shows so far:

• The JLL report. In the September interview, host Rico Figliolini said the city was about two weeks from receiving the report. We found no public announcement that it has been delivered or presented.
• This week's council session. The agenda for the City Council's October 13 work session lists only "City Manager Updates" and an executive session. It has no separate CinéBistro item.
• The community meeting. Johnson named three possible windows. The earliest is early to mid November, kept clear of Thanksgiving. The fallbacks are early December or January. No date or venue has been announced.
• Council town halls. Council members Eric Christ and Phil Sadd held town halls on October 7 and 8, according to Peachtree Corners Magazine. The CinéBistro property was on the list of topics for Sadd's meeting. We found no public account of what was said.
• Housing on the site. In the same interview, Figliolini mentioned seeing one council member express an intent for no multifamily on the property. He did not name the council member, and we found no original statement.
• A request for proposals. In that conversation, an RFP came up as a likely later step, and we found no public notice of one since. Figliolini also raised the idea of a public-private partnership in which the city keeps ownership and leases to an operator.

The meeting window and the timing of the report are both still unconfirmed, and either could move.

The Town Center around the empty building

The CinéBistro decision is one part of a broader effort. The June report described Town Center as a mixed-use development with several property owners. Economic Development Director Bertrand Lapoire has been meeting with business owners about parking, wayfinding and the look of the parking deck. The city's planned fixes include brighter lighting on the main median, better signage, and a new crosswalk and sidewalk from the parking deck to the CMX area. We have not found confirmation that they are finished. "There are things we can control as a city, and things we cannot," Lapoire told the magazine.

The Town Center Ambassador Program, overseen by Chief City Marshal Edward Restrepo, had seven part-time aides as of June. They work Monday through Thursday from 3 to 11 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and the city was recruiting to reach a dozen.

Private tenants keep changing too. Dumpling Master is open at 5215 Town Center Blvd. in the former Knuckies Hoagies space. In July, Tomorrow's News Today reported plans for a Paris Baguette at 5230 Town Center Boulevard. It would combine the former Tiff's Treats and Sooni and Tommi suites into about 2,900 square feet. We have not confirmed an opening date. Any future use of the theater is supposed to complement the businesses already there, so each café and restaurant that opens shapes what makes sense next door.

Using the green while the decision is pending

Town Green stays busy through the end of the year. Here is the calendar, drawn from the city's 2026 event calendar, The Forum's event listing and Peachtree Corners Magazine's fall roundup:

These are advance schedules, so check them before you go. If the community meeting lands in its earliest window, it would fall in the same weeks as Game Day and Market and the Veterans Day Ceremony. If you want to weigh in, watch the city's announcements as Thanksgiving gets closer. Our August guide to the Town Green and The Forum and the Peachtree Corners neighborhood page cover the rest of downtown.

How a building gets reimagined is the kind of question we enjoy thinking through: what a footprint allows, what a ceiling height rules out, and what a facade facing a lawn could become. If you'd like to talk through what Town Center's next chapter could mean for your own corner of Peachtree Corners, Heather Cummings is glad to have that conversation. Let's Connect.