Like metro Atlanta communities spanning from Doraville to Douglasville, Suwanee to Serenbe and beyond, the City of Chamblee is taking steps to create a vibrant centralized gathering place that helps lend identity. 

In the works for nearly a decade, the Chamblee City Center concept's largest phase is in the process of gaining approvals. Plans call for transforming more than 7 acres into mixed-use redevelopment a few steps from Chamblee City Hall, a sister project that won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Georgia 2023 People’s Choice Award for best built project over 5,000 square feet. 

The site in question is located between Peachtree Road, Ingersoll Rand Drive, Irvindale Drive, and Broad Street. 

Work on the public-private partnership began in 2018, when the City of Chamblee and its Downtown Development Authority teamed in hopes of creating a more vibrant, centralized town center with retail, offices, housing, and greenspace. 

The project’s City Hall component opened in October 2022, and two years later the city picked developers Greystar and Vantage Realty Partners to remake vacant land across the street from the new government building. 

Expected view from the third floor of Chamblee City Hall. Greystar; Dwell Design Studio; courtesy of City of Chamblee

Overview of a planned retail section and central greenspace at Chamblee City Center. Greystar; Dwell Design Studio; courtesy of City of Chamblee

According to site plans approved by the city in late 2025, additions to Chamblee City Center call for 340 multifamily residential units and 29,000 square feet of retail space, including five standalone commercial buildings, spread across 7.2 acres.

Nearly 3 acres of open space has also been worked into site plans, including pocket parks and a large, centralized events lawn. 

Other components call for a 192,000-square-foot parking garage with 673 total spaces for residents and visitors. (Across the development, 176 spaces would be reserved for retail and restaurant portions, per Greystar). 

According to Chamblee spokesperson Shannon Wiggins, the development team is working with DeKalb County authorities to obtain a Land Disturbance Permit right now. 

“Currently, we expect for the closing between the [Chamblee] Downtown Development Authority and the developer to occur around mid-late October, with groundbreaking soon after,” Wiggins wrote via email. 

No outlook on when the initial phases of development might deliver is available. 

Greystar; courtesy of City of Chamblee

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Greystar; courtesy of City of Chamblee

Other partners in the project include Atlanta-based firms Dwell Design Studio, Core Landscape, Lightweight Studio, and Kimley-Horn engineers. 

A nearby resident reached out to Urbanize Atlanta recently to praise the “retro-style retail” and other aspects of the city center vision, but also to air concerns it would clear a “big grove of mature hardwood trees” from the site. 

“I’ve seen lightning bugs in the forest, and when you look at a satellite view, there is a lot of hard surface and little canopy in the vicinity of downtown Chamblee,” he wrote via email. “I feel like the trees could be spared if they put some of the retail under the apartments instead of building single-story retail—especially in the year 2026.”

In the gallery above, have a look for yourself at the Chamblee proposal and site plans from additional angles. 

Overview of the 7 acres in question, in relation to Chamblee City Hall, the city's MARTA station, and other landmarks. Google Maps

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