With four major mixed-use developments in the pipeline and a forest of office buildings already standing, the growing, transit-connected “urban-burb” that is Dunwoody could qualify for boomtown status.

In response, leaders of the Central Perimeter city recently struck a deal they hope will guide the “historic” growth in smarter, more approachable ways, officials tell Urbanize Atlanta.

Dunwoody approved a contract last month with Pond & Company, an architecture and engineering firm that specializes in placemaking, to create what’s being called the Edge City 2.0 Redevelopment Plan.

Dunwoody is committing $30,000 in public funding to the $150,000 project, with funds from Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Centers Initiative covering the rest.

In metro Atlanta, Pond & Company's portfolio includes streetscapes around Georgia Tech and city-center planning for places like downtown Duluth and Norcross. 

With a focus on the Perimeter Center District, the goal is to create an “implementable roadmap” that will guide Dunwoody’s growth for the next 20 years, when the city’s influx of millennials is pondering retirement. The partnership with Pond & Company is expected to produce what Michael Starling, Dunwoody’s economic development director, describes as a “unique, shared vision for the area.”

State Farm's new transit-connected Dunwoody campus, as seen while under construction, is more evidence of the city's physical growth. Courtesy of City of Dunwoody

More specifically, the redevelopment plan will aim to address the need for more greenspace, a mobility network that accommodates all residents and visitors, additional public art, and how the future of retail will be puzzled into it all.

Following research and collaboration with the city, Pond & Company is expected to produce its plan by October next year, according to city reps. 

Views across Dunwoody, facing west. Courtesy of City of Dunwoody

It’s no coincidence that Dunwoody is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Perimeter Center this year, a half-century after its founding was marked by the debut of Perimeter Mall in 1971.

City leaders say job growth, more than 10 million square feet of office space in the Perimeter submarket, and other development in the area has helped transform a population that’s now made up of more than 50 percent millennial and Generation Z residents.

On the jobs front, Insight Global and Zillow have recently announced they’re bringing Southeastern headquarters to the market, while earlier this year, State Farm completed its massive, three-tower complex spanning 1.7-million square feet next to the Dunwoody MARTA station.

Significant mixed-use projects underway in the area include GID Development Group’s $2-billion High Street and a hipper, more fashionable remake of Perimeter Place called Ashford Lane.

A redevelopment of Dunwoody’s former Gold Kist headquarters is preparing to break ground, along with a nearly 20-acre project called Park at Perimeter Center East, among other developments. 

The view over Dunwoody Village, a destination city leaders believe should be better connected with bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Courtesy of City of Dunwoody

Given all that investment action, and the promise of more changes to come, what should the blueprint for Dunwoody 2042 look like?

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