Metro Atlanta’s impressive roster of historic or built-from-scratch city centers has a new entrant that blends throwback Americana with modern-day functionality. And putt-putt golf.
Just west of Cumming’s quaint old downtown, the mixed-use Cumming City Center has finished major construction and continues to evolve with new tenants in the county seat of one of Georgia’s most rapidly growing places, Forsyth County.
The 75-acre project claimed a hilly, rugged site off Canton Highway, west of Ga. Highway 400 and Lake Lanier, with a goal of creating a timeless social and commercial hub that’s the antithesis of a standard strip mall. A recent Vimeo clip posted by VantagePoint 3D suggests that may have been achieved.
It was a five-year process from initial planning stages to the first wave of business openings, project leaders have said.
“This isn't your typical shopping center—it’s a brand new downtown,” reads a project description by Dwell Design Studio, the architects. “The [topography] was a little crazy, but we made it work to our advantage by creating distinct districts.”VantagePoint 3D; Vimeo
Cumming officials held a ribbon-cutting for the project in summer 2022, but the first business to open—Top KNOTch Boutique, a home décor, gifts, and apparel retailer—didn’t debut until March. Grand openings have continued through this month, and a brewery called Crooked Culture is expected to open soon in a 7,000-square-foot outparcel building.
Today, the city center hosts a farmers market, concert series at the Lou Sobh Amphitheater, and special events ranging from arts fests to car shows and Zumba classes.
Other built aspects include an 18-hole PuttTek mini-golf course, pocket parks, walking trails, a centralized fountain, public restrooms, and—crucially—relatively discreet surface parking lots and a tucked-away parking garage.
VantagePoint 3D; Vimeo
VantagePoint 3D; Vimeo
As designed by Atlanta-based Dwell Design Studio, the “historical node” features about 117,000 square feet of retail space, new buildings for the Cumming Police Department and Municipal Court, and a small lake, all situated 37 miles north of Midtown. About 14 restaurants are eventually planned, including the brewhouse, project leaders have said.
Developers broke ground on the project in August 2019, but progress was delayed by an exceptionally wet winter that year, and then again by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We’ve reached out to Cumming's mayor and long-tenured city councilmembers this week for info on what other additions are bound for Cumming City Center soon, and we’ll update this story with any details that come.
In the meantime, see highlights of how the project turned out in the gallery above.
The roster of open restaurants, watering holes, retailers, and other businesses listed on the project’s website is as follows:
Sliceability
Homestead
The Well
The Loft
Los Rios Cantina
Vampire Penguin
Tin Cup Grill
Myth & Legend Coffee
Juke N Jive
Good Vibes Nutrition
Avenue of the Oaks
Pieces & Peaches Boutique
Lily Rose Co.
Top Knotch Boutique
Roxy Moxy Boutique
Wright's Fish & Chips
Sugar Polish Nail Bar
Good Chemistry Med Spa
Muse Cabin
Pop.In
Rita West Photography
Irwin Homes
Willis Group Real Estate
Foresite Group
Salon AF
...
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