Sandy Springs’ Goals for Its City Center Are in Reach

The Sandy Springs City Center – covered in this blog last year – is set to kick into gear this summer. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul has stated that he hopes the project will break ground in July or August, with a “soft opening” anticipated in Fall 2017, the Sandy Springs Patch reports.

The planned 14-acre City Center site is bounded by Johnson Ferry Road, Roswell Road, Mount Vernon Highway, and Sandy Springs Circle. It is planned to include green space surrounding city offices, a 1,050-seat performing arts center, retail shops, restaurants, residential units, and parking. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that, according to Paul, the city has two goals for the project: 1) to create a sense of community and a public gathering place, and 2) to spark redevelopment in the area, particularly in the aging Roswell Road corridor. The hope is to make that stretch of road more pedestrian-friendly and less congested.

According to the Chronicle, the City of Sandy Springs will own the performing arts center, city offices, parking and green space.  Carter and Selig Enterprises will develop the project, with Carter assuming responsibility for the residential component and Selig for the retail component. Carter will also serve as the project’s program manager.

The goal to spur redevelopment along Roswell Road has already received a boost with the announcement that the long-dormant Tom Jumper Chevrolet dealership will soon become a Mercedes-Benz dealership. The 11-acre site, which Curbed Atlanta says has more than 1,000 feet of frontage along Roswell Road, will become a satellite location for one of the largest Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the country, RBM of Atlanta.

This project dovetails nicely with the upcoming relocation of Mercedes-Benz USA’s North American headquarters in Montvale, New Jersey, to Sandy Springs. The new, 250,000-square-foot headquarters will occupy 12 acres on a 76-acre parcel that was put on the market last year by its private owners, the Mayson family.

Ashton Woods Homes is working to purchase the rest of the Mayson property to convert it into “a mix of townhomes, flats, apartments and retail,” the Chronicle reports in another article – for a total of more than 1,000 new residences on Abernathy Road, less than a mile west of Georgia 400. About 30 acres of the property will remain as green space.

Other developments are also in the works in Sandy Springs, including:

1. A mixed-use development by Ackerman & Co. at the intersection of Abernathy and Barfield Roads. The project will include a hotel, up to 30,000 square feet of retail and 570,000+ square feet of Class A office space.
2. Northpark 100-300 by Hines, a 1,175,000-square-foot, mixed-use development on 14 acres at Abernathy Road and GA 400. Expected to be completed in 2017, the project includes 775,000 square feet of office space in two buildings; 350,000 square feet of multifamily space in 350 units; 50,000 square feet of retail space; and a 600-room hotel.
3. 700 Northpark, also by Hines and at Abernathy and GA 400. The proposed 450,000-square-foot office building will become the fourth building in the Northpark Town Center development, a mixed-use office complex.
4. Two Northplace by Crocker, a 240,000-square-foot, ten-story office building at 6403 Barfield Rd NE.
5. The Sandy Springs Gateway project by JLB. Located at Roswell Road and Windsor Parkway, the project includes 630 apartment units as well as office and retail space.

Along with Mercedes-Benz and these new developments, Sandy Springs has also reeled in a number of corporate and regional headquarters projects, including the Amtrak Information Technology Center and offices for CSM Bakery and Veritiv.

Given all of this activity, the City of Sandy Springs’ goals for its new City Center certainly seem to be within grasp. The Atlanta Business Chronicle affirmed the city’s walk-ability goal for the City Center by naming the project as a finalist in the Land category in the Chronicle’s 2015 Best in Atlanta Real Estate Awards. And according to Curbed Atlanta, sustainable development expert Ed McMahon of Washington D.C.’s Urban Land Institute recently said that Sandy Springs’ proposed City Center could “set a new standard” for communities in the northern reaches of Atlanta. The City of Sandy Springs – often called a model for newly created cities – may set the standard again, this time for the city-center trend.

David Rubenstein, Principal with Cresa Atlanta, began his commercial real estate career in 1989, but has worked exclusively as a tenant representative assisting clients in office, industrial and healthcare real estate transactions since 2000.  He has a diverse background including commercial real estate development, leasing and finance.  For more information or questions, contact David at 404-446-1586 or drubenstein@cresa.com.