Where will Sandy Springs and Dunwoody put all those cars?
That was the sentiment of many Wednesday night at a community forum about a proposed five-skyscraper development near Abernathy Road and Ga. 400. The angst wasn't just about that project, though. The area is suddenly awash in rising towers or drawing-board plans that promise more congestion.
Representatives of development group 1117 Sandy Springs LLC met with about 60 local residents and business owners. The conversation was pleasant, but many feared transportation projects in the works and nearby MARTA access will not be enough to service the development surge.
“This project, all those towers, it is going to be huge,” Trisha Thompson Fox, president of the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods, said of the area’s densification.
The speculative proposal at 1117 Perimeter Center West in Sandy Springs includes three residential high-rises and two office towers surrounding an existing office building. The developer is a Korean firm based in Australia. A representative said it is the group’s first project in the U.S.
Fox asked the developers’ representatives if traffic counts from other projects in the pipeline will be considered by regional planners as part of 1117 Sandy Springs’ traffic plan. A traffic engineer on the project said that was unclear.
The other Perimeter Mall area projects include:
- Next to the Dunwoody MARTA station and Perimeter Mall, State Farm is building the first of as many as four office towers.
- A Boston developer is expected to soon bring forward plans for the High Street project, just west of the Dunwoody MARTA station, with thousands of residences, office space and retail that's been described as a possible new downtown for the young city.
- Longtime Atlanta developer Charlie Brown and partners this month proposed another five-tower project in Dunwoody.
- Homebuilder Ashton Woods plans a mixed-use development along Abernathy Road that will be adjacent to Mercedes-Benz's new U.S. headquarters.
- Houston developer Hines and a pension fund are in a legal battle with the city of Sandy Springs over a zoning dispute that, if resolved in the developers' favor, could allow for two office high-rises and a hotel.
Most of the planned development has been pitched as self-contained and transit-oriented, but if all or most of it is built the sheer volume would likely bring loads of traffic.
The 1117 Sandy Springs’ proposal will require approval under the Development of Regional Impact program and by the city of Sandy Springs.
Some attendees at this week’s initial public forum — a requirement of the city of Sandy Springs — said they liked plans to try to create a walkable district at the site. But the surrounding area is geared to cars, and transit is not an option for many. Residents of the new towers might also work elsewhere, adding to traffic.
Representatives said they will work with planners to mitigate congestion, but that the project’s design of residences, offices and retail and its planned tunnel to the Sandy Springs MARTA station will hold down added traffic.
“That is one thing that we think is a big selling point for this site,” said one of the representatives, local developer Rob Forrest.
He and other representatives also cited the upcoming overhaul of the Ga. 400/I-285 interchange and plans for a new interchange at Ga. 400 and Abernathy. Separately, Dunwoody is working on a new road off I-285 to connect to State Farm.
Gov. Nathan Deal also recently announced an ambitious plan to improve major interchanges and expand the toll lane network along metro area freeways, and MARTA is pitching an as-yet-unfunded expansion of its Red line north to Alpharetta. But those projects are still years away.
Forrest and other representatives pledged to hold more forums to address neighbors’ concerns.
The development team also revealed new details about the project: 1,600 residences in three towers; 1.5 million square feet of office space around an existing office building; and about 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The developers want permission to build about 5,200 parking spaces, fewer than what would typically be allowed, because of the transit link and self-contained design.
Developers will submit a rezoning application in coming weeks to allow a mix of uses and to permit more than the 31 stories currently allowed. At present, the team has no signed tenants.
Traffic isn’t the only concern. The potential impact on schools and the lack of nearby parks also came up. Some tenants in the site’s existing office building worried about construction hurting their businesses.
Some in the audience asked about prospects for a monorail in Sandy Springs or some other type of people mover.
Brian Eufinger, 33, a Sandy Springs resident and business owner, said he hopes for a “win-win” development. He said he has few friends who regularly use MARTA. Curtailing parking could help reduce the project’s congestion and encourage people to take transit, he said. But that will take a long time with MARTA’s Red line ending just one stop north and a planned expansion to Alpharetta still years away.
After the meeting, Fox, the neighborhood council president, said the gathering didn’t ease “even one of my concerns.”
“We are in a lot of trouble,” she said, “and I am not seeing the ability of the streets to handle this capacity.”
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