The Perimeter market is one of the fastest-growing in metro Atlanta. Thousands of companies, from small businesses to Fortune 500 firms, call Perimeter home, with new announcements coming every day.
It is no surprise this is where employers want to locate. Perimeter’s leadership continues to focus on improving the quality of life, providing amenities and transforming this market from a suburban car-dependent area into a livable, walkable community.
Through the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs), commercial property owners in a defined 4.2-square-mile area in the core of the Central Perimeter Market voluntarily pay additional property taxes to improve access and mobility.
The PCIDs champion infrastructure improvements such as gateways, streetscapes, green space and maintenance of landscaped medians of major thoroughfares. This helps present an attractive brand and cohesive sense of place for the Perimeter Market. Businesses like UPS, Newell Rubbermaid and State Farm are relocating and expanding here, adding thousands of jobs to the area and population growth.
But providing the transportation improvements necessary to businesses and employees continues to be a challenge.
Located within the PCIDs boundaries, the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange is a critical transportation component of one of the Southeast’s largest office markets and employment centers. Serious traffic congestion at this interchange has a major impact on the Perimeter and surrounding areas and their ability to retain and attract jobs. Governor Deal’s announcement, committing more than $210 million in improvements, is a defining moment in the economic and social future of the region and the state because this area is one of metro Atlanta’s most populated and most heavily congested corridors.
The interchange improvements represent the first piece of needed transportation infrastructure and quality-of-life enhancement. This project anchors the top end of I-285, pulling together multiple employment centers including Cumberland, Doraville, Cobb County, north Fulton County, Buckhead and others. Once the I-285/Ga. 400 work is finished, complementary projects will surely follow.
Perimeter has seen firsthand the importance of planning for future development.
Through the “Fast Forward” initiative of former Gov. Sonny Perdue, the Perimeter Center Parkway “Flyover Bridge” was constructed in 2008. Today, it connects Perimeter’s $3.04 billion medical center to the second-largest shopping mall in the state, alleviates traffic throughout the district, and has attracted major corporate investments in the new city of Brookhaven — including future development at Perimeter Summit and the new Hyatt Atlanta Perimeter hotel at Villa Christina.
Gov. Deal has stated that among his priorities are maintaining Georgia’s economic competitiveness and remaining focused on growing jobs. Infrastructure improvements that address congestion and safety while making it easier to move the goods and services necessary to corporations are key to achieving those goals.
By placing an emphasis on partnership, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the PCIDs are saving taxpayer money and time through management of resources and innovatively packaged improvements.
Now more than ever, it is critical we continue to prepare not only for immediate growth, but for future growth in the Perimeter area and across the top end. We must remain at the table with our partners throughout metro Atlanta, on both sides of the aisle, to seek support, utilize resources and deliver results to improve the quality of life for Georgians across the region and the state.
The PCIDs resolve to partner with the Georgia Transportation Alliance and other agencies like the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, State Road and Tollway Authority, MARTA and the Atlanta Regional Commission to seek funding opportunities through our state Legislature.
We are excited to continue to gain momentum to keep our state’s competitive edge by investing in infrastructure to get Georgians to work.
Yvonne Williams is president and CEO of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts.
