According to the architecture firm tasked with lending Cumming a new sense of place, “One of Georgia’s strongest communities has been lacking a city center for too long.”

By year's end, the 75-acre Cumming City Center project is aiming to change that, with a unique mix of recreation and commerce that’s hardly a humdrum strip mall.

Just west of Cumming’s quaint (some would say sleepy) downtown, the mixed-use hub is coming together on a hilly, rugged site off Canton Highway, west of Ga. Highway 400 and Lake Lanier.

Troy Brumbalow, mayor of the Forsyth County seat, is credited with bringing Cumming City Center from idea stages to the active construction site it is today. The project is expected to feature a “Main Street, Americana” vibe when it opens sometime later this year.  

As designed by Atlanta-based Dwell Design Studio, the “historical node” will feature about 117,000 square feet of retail space, new buildings for the Cumming Police Department and Municipal Court, and an amphitheater adjacent to a small lake.

About 14 restaurants are eventually planned, including a brewhouse and what the mayor has described as "an all-day, 1950s-[style] diner," plus Vietnamese and Mediterranean concepts.   

Construction progress at the 75-acre site west of downtown Cumming, as seen earlier this year. Cumming City Center/FB

The throwback Americana look of one retail building. Cumming City Center; architecture, Dwell Design Studio

The goal is to create a venue for festivals and concerts dotted with “timeless” buildings “that will define the community for the next century,” according to a summary by the architects.

“This isn't your typical shopping center—it’s a brand new downtown,” reads a project description. “The [topography] was a little crazy, but we made it work to our advantage by creating distinct districts.”

Those include an area reserved as an open field, an 18-hole PuttTek mini golf course, pocket parks, walking trails, and a water fountain area.

A 1,145-foot, wooden boardwalk is designed to snake through the property, over a stream, tributaries, and wetlands.

The sloped site will include an amphitheater and pond, at center, along with a boardwalk, open field, and wooded trails. Retail, municipal buildings, and the PuttTek mini golf course are pictured at bottom. Cumming City Center; architecture, Dwell Design Studio

This week we’ve reached out to the mayor and other city officials for updates on retail signings, specific opening dates, and other project details. We’ll update this story with additional information that comes.

City leaders broke ground on the project in August 2019, but progress was delayed by an exceptionally wet winter that year. Since inception, it’s been scheduled to open in late 2021—and now apparently all at once, instead of in phases.

Have a closer look at site plans, progress, and renderings in the gallery above.

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