State review finds Big Red Apple Innovation Corridor development in Habersham County warrants regional review

In June 2025, the City of Cornelia submitted an initial state review request for a planned unit development at 1900 Level Grove Road: three commercial outparcels, 228 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, and 73 three-bedroom townhomes, along with a new lift station, greenspace and a park.

A separate, larger filing for the same corridor described the Big Red Apple Innovation Corridor as an approximately 284-acre mixed-use development with residential, commercial/retail and industrial components, including a portion set aside for a data center. That application, submitted for Habersham County by The Cook and Company-Cook Construction and Real Estate, was later withdrawn.

Habersham County subsequently filed additional information with regional reviewers for the same project under a new application number, again describing it as an approximately 285-acre mixed-use development with a data-center component, with project cost figures in the filing including $300 million.

Reviewers' determination on the renewed application, dated October 10, 2025, found that the project "warrants regional review," sending the Big Red Apple Innovation Corridor proposal into the regional review stage of the state's development-of-regional-impact process.