Roswell’s spot-on impression of a densifying urban center continues.
Per-hour parking rates are set to go into effect Friday in select, city-managed places around downtown Roswell, a historic city center that’s emerged as a suburban Atlanta day-trip destination, food-and-beverage hotspot, and magnet for large-scale infill development.
The paid parking is part of a downtown pilot program that will run until Dec. 31 this year, according to city officials. The goal is to gather data on usage patterns and parking demand before permanent changes are implemented.
Initial parking rates will be $2 per hour, for up to six hours. After that, a daily maximum of $16 will apply.
The paid-parking push starts Friday at these locations: Canton Street between Magnolia Street and Norcross Street; Elizabeth Way between Canton Street and Alpharetta Highway; East Alley between Canton Street and Norcross Street; and at the East Alley Parking Lot.
In map form, that looks like this:
Courtesy of City of Roswell
But fear not, north OTP misers: The new Roswell parking deck officially opened by the city earlier this month will be free for the time being. That $20-million, bond-funded project added 394 parking spaces to the growing downtown at 1056 Alpharetta St. (Ga. Highway 9).
The parking deck will be free for roughly six months, during construction of what’s called the Green Street Activation Plan nearby.
The Green Street project, launched May 4, will convert the street to a one-way, southbound road while adding a multi-use trail paved in brick, with new landscaping, lighting, and other upgrades geared toward improving connectivity and safety near the new parking structure, according to city officials.
Courtesy of City of Roswell
About a block from the parking deck, boutique hotel project The Chambray broke ground earlier this year, with plans for 125 rooms and two new restaurants. That site is immediately north of the multifaceted Southern Post development, which replaced a 1960s strip mall in 2024 after years of planning.
Meanwhile, on a larger scale, city officials and developers last month officially broke ground on the mixed-use Hillrose Market project, a remake of 7 acres south of the parking deck and Roswell’s foodie mecca Canton Street.
That development calls for a six-building retail village, 143 apartments, 16 brownstones, an adaptive-reuse overhaul of the former Roswell Police Department, and almost 500 more parking spaces in another city-owned deck, among other facets.
So Midtown North, basically, eh?
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