Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to an opinion written by Clay Grubb, the CEO of Grubb Properties, titled “Dunwoody’s future is at stake.”
There is a buzz about Dunwoody, and it’s well-deserved. New retail and restaurants are opening, hotels are filling up, and two major new mixed-use developments are under construction. The website for the new Hawkers restaurant at Ashford Lane perfectly describes what makes Dunwoody so appealing: “we couldn’t decide if we wanted to go ITP or OTP, so we chose the best of both worlds and opened directly on top of the Perimeter.”
Our commercial market is thriving with more than $500 million in new development underway at High Street and Campus 244. And although work-from-home is impacting the office and retail markets, these impacts are not all negative. Our retail and restaurants are expanding rapidly to fill the demand of residents who are spending more time working from home. Perimeter Marketplace and Ashford Lane have both opened recently with new tenants including CAMP, Superica, Hawkers and Super Chix. Perimeter Mall is busier than even before the pandemic, drawing new upscale tenants like Garage, Psycho Bunny, EVEREVE, and Mango.
Business travelers have returned, and convention bookings have picked up in Dunwoody’s Perimeter Market. Plus, office utilization continues to grow as companies find the best mix of in-person and at-home work arrangements. But that doesn’t mean we’re immune from the challenges facing commercial markets nationwide. Dunwoody’s Perimeter Market has a large amount of office product that could be considered “commodity” space, and a significant portion of it needs to be reimagined. Our commercial vacancy rate stands at 18.5% and is expected to grow later this year when a number of large leases expire. The pandemic changed things, and we’ve been planning for the changes.
In 2021, Dunwoody applied for and received a grant from the Livable Communities Initiative (LCI) of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) to proactively plan for the future of Dunwoody’s Perimeter Market. We called it Edge City 2.0, and we spent a year working with the community to develop a blueprint for the next 20 years. Published earlier this year, the Edge City 2.0 report puts a priority on connected greenspace, transportation enhancements, and entertainment options moving forward.
The report also identifies a “core of activity” organically forming around the Dunwoody MARTA Station. It started with the recent developments of the State Farm Campus and Insight Global headquarters at the Twelve24 office building, and it continues with the first phase of construction for High Street and Campus 244. Edge City 2.0 encourages future development here to continue building up the “core.” This includes housing, which is an important and much-debated ingredient in creating vibrant communities.
Today, more than 50 percent of the housing stock across Dunwoody is rental. In Dunwoody’s Perimeter Market, it’s 90 percent with more than 4,800 existing apartments. New multifamily housing is under construction at High Street. Phase 1 will add 598 apartments, and future phases could add up to 900 more. Edge City 2.0 calls for a variety of housing types, including for sale and rental, to balance the market and provide something for everyone: townhouses, rowhomes, stacked flats, senior living, and apartments. This would provide options to meet the increasing demand for what’s called “missing middle housing,” which falls between a single-family home and mid-rise apartment building. Attainable missing middle housing appeals to the two fastest growing demographic segments in the US, young Millennials who are entry-level buyers and the “silver wave” of downsizing Baby Boomers.
Dunwoody is well-positioned for the future with a community-based, well-researched and modern blueprint that accounts for continuing changes in the commercial market. We look forward to building what’s next.
