Atlanta NHL comeback bid takes major step with new arena progress

There's a lot of buzz around the NHL about the league bringing in 33rd and 34th franchises, and one of those looks set to head to either Austin or Houston .

The leader in the clubhouse for the other is Atlanta (yes, again), and one of the two groups looking to bring a team to town hit a big milestone this week.

The city council in Alpharetta, Georgia, a northern Atlanta suburb, voted 4-3 to approve the redevelopment of the North Point Mall into a mixed-use entertainment district featuring a very large arena capable of being home to an NHL team.

SACRAMENTO MAKES ITS CASE AS MLB'S NEXT EXPANSION CITY, CALLING ITSELF A MARKET TOO BIG TO IGNORE The proposal was led by real estate and placemaking firm Jamestown for the site owner, New York Life, and in partnership with real estate developer Machete Group, which specializes in this kind of project.

"We are thrilled to have achieved this significant milestone and grateful to the City of Alpharetta, its elected officials, staff, and the community for their thorough review and support of our vision for North Point’s future," Chief Investment Officer at Jamestown Tim Perry said in a statement.

"This approval reflects the City’s confidence in the transformative opportunity of the project and in Jamestown’s ability to bring this vision to life.

It also positions North Point to become a regional, year-round destination for professional sports, entertainment, and mixed-use experiences, while bringing substantial investment, economic impact, and community benefit." The plan is for the site to be home to a 20,000-seat arena, which would make it the second-biggest in the league behind only Montreal's Bell Centre.

The site would also be home to a 4,000-seat music hall and performing arts center, a 2,000-seat community hockey rink, a 1,100-seat movie theater, a 35,000-square-foot hotel conference center, and hundreds of rooms across two hotel buildings.

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES: WARGAMES HEADS TO HOUSTON IN NOVEMBER Interestingly, this is one of two groups looking to build an NHL venue in the area.

Another project is being proposed in Forsyth County, just seven miles away, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

The NHL previously had a presence in Atlanta from 1972 to 1980 with the Atlanta Flames before they moved to Calgary, and then again from 1999 to 2011 with the Atlanta Thrashers before they moved to Winnipeg and became the current version of the Jets.

At the moment, the Atlanta area is home to the ECHL's Atlanta Gladiators, an affiliate of the Nashville Predators , who play in Duluth, Georgia.