Some members of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association will be negotiating terms with the developer for a proposed mixed-use development in Perimeter Center where the current City Hall is located and come back with the plans next month for the full DHA board to discuss.
At the Aug. 6 meeting, the DHA board voted to allow its six-member executive committee work out an agreement with Grubb Properties for its proposed Park at Perimeter Center East development. Grubb Properties is seeking to build three residential towers and an office tower at the property located at 41, 47 and 53 Perimeter Center East.
Plans are to bring back an agreement to the DHA’s Sept. 10 meeting and if the DHA board approves, an official contract will be signed stating DHA’s support for the project, explained DHA President Robert Wittenstein.
The agreement essentially means the DHA will voice its support at city Planning Commission and City Council meetings, Wittenstein said.
Grubb Properties representatives presented its proposed plans for the 19.5 acres located behind the Ravinia complex off Ashford-Dunwoody Road to the DHA in May after several meetings with select DHA members and city staff.
At the Aug. 6 meeting Grubb Properties explained it has invested $38 million on the property so far and noted some of the changes they’ve made due to input from the DHA, including the addition of more green space and multi-use paths for cyclists and pedestrians to connect to Georgetown and
A small park is planned for the center of the development and will be open to the public with plans to for trails to connect to Georgetown and eventually across Ashford-Dunwoody Road to meet demands from residents concerned about green space and connectivity, Williams said.
The company plans to keep the six-story building now housing City Hall and a 6-story office building next to it as office buildings with retail spaces on the ground floor. The company plans to demolish another six-story office building, toward I-285, to make room for two residential towers and an office tower.
What Grubb Properties is proposing:
- Four new residential towers and one new office tower.
- Two parking decks.
- Residential towers south of property and closest to I-285 would be 16 and 14 stories and would enclose a 19-story office tower.
- Two existing 6-story office towers remain, but would have retail such as small restaurants, on the ground floor.
- Two other 12-story residential towers – one in the center area of the proposed development and one to the north of the site, closer to existing townhomes.
- Maximum of 1,200 new residential units.
- Maximum of 500,000 square feet of new office space.
- Full build-out unit mix of 75 percent owner-occupied for-sale housing and 25 percent rental (up to a maximum of 300 units).
- Until full build-out of site, Grubb Properties shall have up to five years from full Certificate of Occupancy on first residential development to reach 50 /50 percent interim unit mix of owner-occupied for sale and rental.
- A non-compliance penalty of $2,500 per unit for failing to reach that interim unit mix to be paid to the city of Dunwoody.
Todd Williams of Grubb said in talking with DHA and city staff, it was agreed the towers would be constructed of concrete and steel. Rental units would likely go for about $1,400 a month and for-sale units would likely be priced in the $350,000 and higher ranges, he said.
Dha does not speak for dunwoody. Just because they review it doesn’t mean the community favors it. They did a poor job with Charlie Brown’s proposal for high rise condos when they favored this project (the community is against high density) and then they agreed that it wouldn’t add to traffic, and then they decreased the owner/occupied requirement from 90% owner occupied/10% rental to 70% then to 50% owner occupied thereby resulting in a high density rental building. They were wrong on all counts. Eventually, the project was withdrawn.
Nor do you speak for all of the community. I live in Dunwoody and think its a great proposal and want to see more projects like this in the perimeter.