Dunwoody is proposing a $20
million connector along the Atlanta Perimeter where State Farm Insurance Co. is
building its 8,000-employee regional hub and where millions more square feet of
office, retail and hotel development could be in the offing.
Dunwoody officials believe
the proposed Westside Connector, which would come off I-285 and run beneath
Ashford-Dunwoody Road, would set the stage for a true heart of the central
Perimeter, a rapidly developing collection of cities including Sandy Springs.
The idea stems from two big
problems facing Dunwoody — increasing traffic and rapid development.
More than 125,000 employees
and commuters pour into the Perimeter during the work week, almost tripling the
population of a city with almost 47,600 residents.
More broadly, Dunwoody sits
at the nexus of traffic coming from the northern suburbs to Atlanta’s core and
westward toward the Cumberland Galleria area. Dunwoody Mayor Mike Davis compared the city to the thinnest part
of an hourglass, where traffic is funneling into an area without the
infrastructure to handle it.
The idea for the new
Connector comes as traffic may soon get even worse in the central Perimeter
long before it improves. A planned $1.1 billion overhaul of the Interstate
285/Georgia 400 interchange is moving forward. The project includes rebuilding
the interchange and improvements that will extend from the Roswell Road exit
east to the Ashford-Dunwoody exit.
The Westside Connector
would offer a vital east-west link, potentially taking 700 or more cars off
Hammond Drive and Ashford Dunwoody Road during rush hour, said Dunwoody Public
Works Director Michael Smith.
Traffic isn’t the only
concern. Large residential, retail and office projects are concentrating along
Hammond Drive and Perimeter Center Parkway.
“We have a lot of
development coming,” Davis said. “We need more ways to connect roads.”
The biggest wave of new
projects is destined for a one-mile stretch of Perimeter Center Parkway, where
State Farm is building its new metro Atlanta operations center — one of the
largest corporate office projects in the region’s history. The project could
become a model for retrofitting multiple sites into a vibrant, integrated
mixed-use development. Over time, the project may also transform the urban
center of Dunwoody into something closer to the look of Buckhead or Midtown.
State Farm is developing
its campus around the Dunwoody MARTA station at Hammond and Perimeter Center
Parkway. The insurance giant is planning three approximately 20-story
buildings, up to 90,000 square feet of street-level retail and restaurant
space, and a park that could knit the entire project together.
There’s more. In coming
weeks, Boston-based GID Development Group may also submit plans for 36 acres at
Hammond and Perimeter Center Parkway, a project zoned for up to 3,000
residential units and 400,000 square feet of retail.
The Connector may also
become a catalyst for the redevelopment of the 260,000-square-foot GoldKist
building, a property potentially in the bull’s-eye for corporate relocations
along Perimeter Center Parkway because it’s next to the State Farm project and
the MARTA station. The entire site would also have a better chance to blend
residential and street-level retail into the redevelopment.
The proposed Connector is
also an important pedestrian link to the MARTA station, which city officials
describe as the epicenter of growth for the entire central Perimeter. The
Connector could feature about a quarter-mile link for people walking or biking
to work or the transit station.
“We want to make this as
pedestrian and bike-friendly as we can,” Davis said. Development is nothing new
to Dunwoody.
Before it became a city in
2008, it was known for Perimeter Mall and the retail centers that popped up
around it. In the mid-’80s, projects such as One Ravinia Drive helped launch
office development on Ashford-Dunwoody Road. Today, development is focusing
farther west. Almost 4.6 million square feet of office space — enough to fill
Atlanta’s tallest tower, Bank of America Plaza, almost four times over — is
either already underway or planned along Hammond and Perimeter Center Parkway.
The area is zoned for another nearly 800,000 square feet of retail and more
than 1,000 hotel rooms.
The increasing density is
another catalyst for the Westside Connector.
It could be the first piece
of a much longer plan, probably taking shape over the next few decades, that
creates a grid system connecting Perimeter Mall to the office and retail
projects along Hammond and Perimeter Center Parkway. It’s yet another sign of
how Dunwoody and other Perimeter cities known for single-family housing are
becoming more urban.
“We are trying to hold on
to the best of both worlds,” said Michael Starling, economic development
director with the city of Dunwoody.
The Connector could take
another five years of study before it breaks ground. For now, Dunwoody
officials continue working with the federal government on planning the project.
Douglas
Sams covers Commercial Real Estate
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/real_talk/2015/09/dunwoody-offiicals-propose-up-to-20-million.html
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