Perimeter Area | On The Move

The Perimeter area has been known as a central home for business in Metro Atlanta since at least the late ’80s and early ’90s, when large national corporations began moving to the area and the iconic “King and Queen” buildings opened. UPS was one of the first major corporations to relocate to the Perimeter area when it moved its corporate headquarters to the district in 1991.

Innovation and Employment: Brookhaven Mayor John Park. | Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

A decade later, Cox Enterprises opened its new headquarters in the district. Today, the Perimeter area contains 29 million square feet of office space, including 21 million square feet of Class A space, making it one of the largest office markets in the Southeast. Perimeter is also home to the corporate headquarters of numerous large corporations such as Newell Brands, ServiceMaster, Mercedes-Benz, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Zaxby’s, Westrock, Insight Global and Inspire Brands.

Attracting Generation Z

Since it was incorporated in 2005, Sandy Springs has become one of the most desirable locations in Metro Atlanta. It offers easy access to big-city excitement in Atlanta as well as green space, with more than 950 acres of parks and natural areas. These include the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, John Ripley Forbes Big Trees Forest Preserve and the Abernathy Greenway Park. In addition, a new Veterans Park opened last fall across from City Hall that features a memorial area dedicated to local veterans.

A decade ago, city planners decided to focus on creating an environment where young professionals and families would want to live, according to Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul. “It used to be that employees moved wherever their employers told them to,” says Paul. “But now young people are deciding where they want to live based on the quality of life, and employers are chasing the talent. We are trying to make Sandy Springs a destination for these people.”

The efforts appear to be paying off. SmartAsset recently ranked Sandy Springs as a top 10 destination for millennials and said nearly one-third of Sandy Springs residents are millennials.

Cosmopolitan Living: Rendering of Dunwoody’s High Street mixed-use development. | Photo credit: CID

The centerpiece of Sandy Springs is City Springs, which includes City Hall and the City Green, a four-acre park that hosts festivals, concerts and other outdoor gatherings. There are water features inspired by the springs that give the city its name and a covered stage for performers. City Springs also features the 1,096-seat Byers Theatre and the Studio Theatre, which hosts more intimate performances and corporate meetings. City Springs will host numerous concerts featuring national touring artists in 2024. In addition, City Springs hosts the Sandy Springs Farmers Market every Saturday morning from April 20 through November 23.

Paul says that 10 years ago, Sandy Springs was a restaurant desert. “There has been a concerted effort to add more restaurants in Sandy Springs and we’ve been incredibly successful,” he says. Paul points to Charcuterie Chick and Nowak’s Steakhouse as two of his new favorites.

City Springs in Sandy Springs includes City Hall and the City Green. | Photo credit: GID

Sandy Springs is also home to Pill Hill, the cluster of hospitals, doctor’s offices and outpatient centers at GA-400 and I-285. Forty percent of all hospital beds in greater Atlanta are located here, says City Manager Eden Freeman, which arguably makes Sandy Springs the healthcare mecca of the area. “More babies are born at Northside Hospital than any other hospital in the [United States],” says Freeman.

Freeman points to a TSPLOST referendum originally approved by voters in 2016 and extended until 2027 as critical in the city’s development efforts. The three-quarters-cent sales tax helps fund a wide variety of transportation projects including road maintenance and paving, sidewalks, and pedestrian and bike path improvements. “This provides the revenue needed for transportation projects we couldn’t fund with general revenue,” says Freeman. “The projects enhance the quality of life in Sandy Springs.”

A Buzz About Dunwoody

In 2021, Dunwoody received a grant from the Livable Communities Initiative of the Atlanta Regional Commission to plan for the city’s future. City planners and community leaders then drafted a report titled Edge City 2.0 that lays out a blueprint for the next two decades.

Enhanced Quality of Life: Eden Freeman, Sandy Springs city manager, at City Hall. | Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

The report prioritizes connected greenspace, transportation enhancements and more entertainment options. A core of activity is forming around the Dunwoody MARTA station with the development of the State Farm campus, Insight Global headquarters at the Twelve24 office building, and initial construction phases of two new mixed-use developments: High Street and Campus 244.

There’s a well-deserved focus on Dunwoody right now with new retail and restaurants, hotels in high demand, and developments under construction. “A lot of this buzz surrounds High Street and Campus 244,” says City of Dunwoody Economic Development Director Michael Starling.

Phase one of the 36-acre, $2 billion High Street project, which the developer described as a “cosmopolitan oasis,” will include nearly 600 apartment units, 150,000 square feet of retail space, 90,000 square feet of loft offices and a large events lawn and park. At least 50 residents have moved in since its opening in late January. Announced entertainment venues and restaurants include Puttshack, The Hampton Social, Agave Bandido and Cuddlefish.

Campus 244 is a 12-acre adaptive reuse of the former Gold Kist headquarters, a 1970s office complex that had been vacant for a decade before construction began. The modernized workspace includes 15-foot ceilings, timber-built floors and relatively large floor plans. After two years of construction and leasing activity, four of the five floors have been fully leased, totaling more than 300,000 square feet, with only the top level still available. The project will eventually span 1 million square feet and include retail, restaurants, a central park area and the 145-room Element Hotel.

“Dunwoody is located at the midpoint between urban downtown Atlanta and the northern suburbs, so it’s an ideal location,” says Dunwoody City Manager Eric Linton. “The largest demographic in Dunwoody is kids under 18, which means families are moving here to take advantage of the great schools and high quality of life.”

Dunwoody City Manager Eric Linton I Photo contributed

Starling says there has been an uptick in office leases in Dunwoody recently due to lease renewals, expansions and relocations. This includes Hapag-Lloyd, a shipping company that moved its headquarters from New Jersey to Three Ravinia Drive, bringing 750 jobs. “This was a big win,” says Starling. Also, Duluth-based IT firm Innova Solutions recently acquired a 187,000-square-foot building at 1455 Lincoln Parkway and plans to move its headquarters there this year.

Central Perimeter has seen the most square footage renewed of any Atlanta submarket, according to JLL, a commercial real estate services company. At the 1-million-square-foot Terraces office park, there were seven new leases, four expansions and three renewals last year, totaling more than 111,000 square feet. “Some of this is a flight to quality as tenants are moving from Class B to Class A office space,” says Starling.

An Educated and Affluent Population

Brookhaven has a diverse, educated and affluent population that attracts businesses and employees. The city’s population of nearly 60,000 has a median age of 35 and a median household income of more than $114,000. Seventy-two percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Growth and Change: City of Dunwoody Economic Development Director Michael Starling. | Photo credit: Woddie Williams

“I moved here to be close to jobs and all the activity in Atlanta,” says Brookhaven Mayor John Park. “For example, I can go to a Hawks game on a weeknight and be home and in bed by 11 o’clock. I couldn’t do this if I lived further out.”

Brookhaven is also home to the largest healthcare project in Georgia history – the $1.5 billion Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital, scheduled to open this September. The Arthur M. Blank Hospital will have 446 beds, which is a 33% increase in capacity, and 20 acres of greenspace, including “healing gardens” to provide fresh air and sunshine for patients, their loved ones and hospital staff.

The new hospital will be able to treat more than 400,000 children annually. “It will drive a lot of innovation and employment in the city,” says Park. “One of our main focuses now is on making sure we have the right infrastructure to support the new hospital and the surrounding area.” For example, the Georgia Department of Transportation is making improvements, including a left-turn interchange, a new bridge, and bridge replacement near I-85 and North Druid Hills Road, where the hospital is located.

Brookhaven has also broken ground on a new City Centre project that will serve as the anchor of the city. It will include a new City Hall and public event space featuring an atrium and rooftop terrace with views of downtown Atlanta to the south and Stone Mountain to the east, along with retail and residential development. The project, which will be walking distance to the Brookhaven MARTA station, is scheduled for completion in mid-2025.

Rendering of Brookhaven City Centre. | Photo credit: contributed

The big event in Brookhaven is the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in March at Blackburn Park. Each year, the free two-day music festival features big-name national touring artists, such as 2024 headliners +Live+ and Barenaked Ladies. “This is one of the biggest concert events in the state,” says Park. “It gives us an opportunity to really showcase Brookhaven.”

Transform 285/400 Nears Completion

More than 100,000 people commute into and out of the Perimeter area in Metro Atlanta every day to work for one of more than 2,000 companies located in the district. “This makes modern infrastructure critical to ensure that all these commuters can get into and around the district as efficiently as possible,” says Perimeter CIDs Executive Director Ann Hanlon.

Pediatric Care: Rendering of the Arthur M. Blank Hospital, a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta facility scheduled to open this fall. | Photo credit: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

And there has been no bigger infrastructure project in Metro Atlanta recently than Transform 285/400. This massive rebuild of the Georgia 400 and Interstate 285 interchange, which began more than seven years ago, will transform an area that is a vital part of Metro Atlanta’s economic engine. The project includes 10.5 miles of improved highway and 12 new miles of collector distributor lanes along GA-400 and I-285, new flyover ramps and two new bridges.

The Perimeter CIDs, which include the Fulton Perimeter CID and Central (DeKalb) Perimeter CID, contributed $10 million to the project for aesthetics like street lighting and landscaping that weren’t included in the state’s $800 million budget. This includes completion of a segment of PATH400 along Peachtree Dunwoody Road, a portion of which runs beneath I-285. PATH400 will run alongside GA-400 as a 5.2-mile bike-pedestrian route and greenway that eventually connects the Atlanta BeltLine with trails in Sandy Springs and north Fulton County.

Hanlon says once the project is complete, there will be eight fewer areas of merging congestion within the interchange area. “We’re working closely with the Department of Transportation and businesses in the district to prepare for completion of the interchange this summer,” says Hanlon. “We want to help everyone who commutes into the district understand how to get in and out using the new interchange.”

Other transportation improvements are in the works. The next major infrastructure project will be the construction of express lanes along GA-400 and the top end of I-285. Two barrier-separated express lanes will run both north and south along GA-400 between the North Springs MARTA station and McGinnis Ferry Road. And two barrier-separated express lanes will run east and west along I-285 between I-20 on the west and east sides of the top-end of the interstate.

The Perimeter CIDs are working with the Department of Transportation on logistical details for these projects, such as where exit and entrance ramps will be located. “These are very large, very complex projects over many years, so we’re focused on helping make sure they get completed,” says Hanlon.

Representing Business Interests

The Perimeter CIDs represent the business interests of some of the companies located in the district. Since it was formed in 1998, the Perimeter CIDs have invested $49 million into 169 different infrastructure and transportation projects in the Perimeter area.

Companies in the Perimeter welcome the district’s reputation as a business hub, but the CIDs are also working to expand its reputation beyond just a 9-to-5 business district. So the CIDs embarked on a new branding campaign last year to emphasize the quality of life benefits the area offers to businesses and residents.

The campaign created a new logo, website (perimeteratl.com) and tagline: “Where everything works.” It stresses the Perimeter district’s diverse retail and restaurant options, multi-purpose trails, abundant greenspace, public art and convenient transit options. The Perimeter boasts 138 retailers, more than 80 eateries offering local and international restaurant concepts, 28 hotels ranging from boutique finds to hallmark brands, and 11 miles of bike lanes.

“Perimeter has always offered an excellent quality of life for residents and businesses,” says Hanlon. “It checks all the boxes: safe, clean, affordable, lots of amenities and easy to get around, which is why so many businesses are moving here. Also, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven are three of the best-run cities in the state, with a business-friendly environment.”

Local Flavor

International Appeal

Celebrating Diversity: John Funny, Brookhaven city council member and mayor pro tempore, in front of a mural named Mi Gente (“My People”) at Northeast Plaza. | Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

The South may be known for its fried chicken, sweet tea and grits. But if you’re hankering for something with a bit more international flair, look no further than the Buford Highway International Corridor.

One of the most unique and culturally diverse areas in the state – if not the nation – the eight-mile stretch of Buford Highway contains more than 1,000 immigrant-owned businesses, including more than 100 restaurants that would satisfy just about any craving you might have, from dim sum to dulce de leche.

Business owners along the corridor come from Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Somali and Central American descent, among other nations. Many began settling in the Buford Highway area during the construction boom that preceded the 1996 Olympic Games, attracted by affordable housing, access to public transportation and proximity to construction jobs in the area.

The first ethnic restaurant along the corridor was the Havana Sandwich Shop, which opened in 1976. There are now more than 100 international restaurants representing 21 nations along the corridor, including Food Terminal (Malaysian), Han II Kwan (Korean), Kamayan ATL (Filipino), LanZhou Ramen (Chinese) and Nam Phuong (Vietnamese), all of which were recommended by the Michelin Guide in 2023.

“The identified restaurants along the Buford Highway Corridor are to be commended for being recognized amongst the best of the best,” says John Funny, Brookhaven city council member and mayor pro tempore.

The Plaza Fiesta opened in 1968 as the Buford-Clairmont Mall – it now has a farmers market and more than 140 small vendors. Other large shopping areas along the corridor include Northeast Plaza and Buford Highway Farmers Market, which is known for providing more ethnic food varieties under one roof than any other single-location grocery store in Atlanta.

At least nine different Living Walls murals along Buford Highway celebrate the multicultural fabric of the corridor. Living Walls is a nonprofit organization that has placed dozens of thought-provoking murals around metro Atlanta to create connections with local ethnic communities.

Mayor Pro Tem Funny lauds the murals as a successful collaboration between artists, residents and community organizations. “[They] enhance public spaces, stimulate dialogue and promote positive social change through the transformative power of art,” he says.

In 2022, Brookhaven designated the road as the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor to honor the diversity, culture and contributions of the area and highlight its rich history.

“The community and businesses along the Buford Highway Cultural Corridor add so much value to the city of Brookhaven, and this resolution affords us the opportunity to honor their heritage and contributions,” said Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst at the 2022 designation ceremony.