Tsunami of condos coming to Perimeter

[Andrea]

The Residential Plug-in

Developers see the area evolving into a live-work-play environment.

"A tsunami of residential development is coming," said Wayne Sisco, president of New Urban Solutions Inc., which is planning a condo tower in the area. "I really don't believe you can overbuild in that market, there's just so much pent-up demand."

Bob Krause, president of Newport Development LLC, said Central Perimeter "mimics Midtown with its density and infrastructure."

"It's pretty amazing," Krause said. "It's not a suburban location, but one with the infrastructure already in place -- retail, employment, entertainment. The one component that's been missing is for-sale residential. Some nice apartment complexes have been built, but not condominiums."

They are coming.

This is amazing, too: "... employment numbers are expected to grow from the current 115,000-plus to a staggering 213,000 by 2013."

[teshadoh]

In the past I held an antagonistic anti-edge city attitude, but in the past few years I've come to realize how counter productive it is to push for greater centralization. Atlanta is & will continue to decentralize as every sunbelt / auto oriented metro is. So continued efforts by Perimeter CID & Cumberland CID should should be promoted & embraced by all in the metro - it is in the better interest of the urban core for the edge cities to densify & become more livable.

So - I'll exclaim my satisfaction with the increased condo tower, quasi new-urbanism & the retrofitting of an office park oriented cluster towards a post-modern downtown.

[Andrea]

In the past I held an antagonistic anti-edge city attitude, but in the past few years I've come to realize how counter productive it is to push for greater centralization. Atlanta is & will continue to decentralize as every sunbelt / auto oriented metro is. So continued efforts by Perimeter CID & Cumberland CID should should be promoted & embraced by all in the metro - it is in the better interest of the urban core for the edge cities to densify & become more livable.

So - I'll exclaim my satisfaction with the increased condo tower, quasi new-urbanism & the retrofitting of an office park oriented cluster towards a post-modern downtown.

Yeah, that's sort of where I am, too. I've never really felt hostile toward the edge cities, I was simply disappointed to see the traditional city depleted.

But if that's what the people want, then that's what they shall have. As I commented elsewhere, the statistics show that for every 1 new resident added within the city limits during the last 20 years, the suburbs have literally added 100.

I never thought I'd wind up working at the Perimeter but my company relocated there a couple of years ago. Out of roughly 50 people in our office, only one other person lives inside the Atlanta city limits, and we're considered pretty exotic. If business has to be done ITP, we're usually the ones sent since it's presumed that we have the street smarts to handle that mysterious and threatening terrain. I know some of our younger folks even think of the Perimeter as precariously close-in.

So since the edge cities are obviously here to stay, I agree that we have to embrace them and work on making them as livable and accessible as possible. Not exactly my old fashioned cup of tea, but hey, maybe that's the way cities go in the 21st century.

[Newnan]

It looks like Atlanta is seeing a steady stream of development and population growth in all of its business districts (Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, and Perimeter zone) I think it's good that the perimeter centers are now becoming more pedestrian friendly and more livable. It used to be these areas cleared out and became ghost towns after 5 PM.

[teshadoh]

The Perimeter edge city is vastly different now than it was in 1990 or 2000. And Andrea could probably tell you how much different it was before hand. But first hand I've seen it move from primarily a shopping mall nestled among a collection of suburban subdivisions & office parks, with an odd pair of office towers. Since then, there are fewer subdivisions and more office parks & strip shopping centers. But the past 10 years the newer developments have become more dense & horizontal - making an effort to maximize space. New Urbanism, pedestrian & bicycle passages & transit are making an impass into the traditional suburban culture. It's not an ideal urban environment in my view, but it's the future.

Plus let's not forget - besides Downtown, Perimeter has the most high profile office tenants with Cox, UPS & Newell Rubbermaid headquartered there.

[Andrea]

The Perimeter edge city is vastly different now than it was in 1990 or 2000. And Andrea could probably tell you how much different it was before hand. But first hand I've seen it move from primarily a shopping mall nestled among a collection of suburban subdivisions & office parks, with an odd pair of office towers. Since then, there are fewer subdivisions and more office parks & strip shopping centers. But the past 10 years the newer developments have become more dense & horizontal - making an effort to maximize space. New Urbanism, pedestrian & bicycle passages & transit are making an impass into the traditional suburban culture. It's not an ideal urban environment in my view, but it's the future.

Plus let's not forget - besides Downtown, Perimeter has the most high profile office tenants with Cox, UPS & Newell Rubbermaid headquartered there.

Definitely, Brad. It wasn't that long ago (late 1970's) that you could literally drive along I-285 and see cows grazing in the Spruill's pasture where Ravinia is now.

I'll have to admit I was slightly oblivious to a lot of the stuff going on around the Perimeter until I started working there a couple of years ago. It's pretty staggering. Everything's really super nice and clean, although I will have to admit I somehow miss the jumbled up grittiness of the older sections of the city (for reasons I don't really understand).

Right now everything in this area is *definitely* a car culture, in ways that go far beyond what we experienced in Buckhead, which is hardly the paradigm of new urbanism. A number of areas in Buckhead are quite walkable, however, whereas out here I literally don't think you can walk ANYWHERE. I've noticed a number of new residential projects getting under way, and I can't help but believe that as more residents move in the demand for walkability will increase.

One of the worst things I've seen around the Perimeter from a traffic standpoint is the intersection of 1-285 and Ashford-Dunwoody. Good grief, what a nightmare!! I think reconfiguring that alone would do wonders for this area.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

What about the Cumberland-Galleria edge city? It seems that over the past couple years, people are talking less and less about it. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Perimeter, Midtown, and Buckhead have been growing at a more brisk pace than Cumberland-Galleria. Still, that area is still growing at a decent pace.

[derrickskugler]

Cumberland-Galleria is growing quite briskly... there are several high-rise developments under way, among many other things. I work in the Galleria Office Park and can see the entire area from my office window. LOTS of construction going on. This is a growing area, to be sure.

[Martinman]

What about the Cumberland-Galleria edge city? It seems that over the past couple years, people are talking less and less about it. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Perimeter, Midtown, and Buckhead have been growing at a more brisk pace than Cumberland-Galleria. Still, that area is still growing at a decent pace.

Actually the area was in the news a few months ago concerning the amount of development, much of it residential, that's coming that area as well.

Here's some stats from the article for whats planned for the Cumberland area

1.5 million sf of new office

87,500 sf of retail

4,315 condominium homes

880 townhomes

Cumberland/Galleria experiencing development surge