A 16-story office tower and 10-story hotel development in Perimeter Center got the green light from the Dunwoody City Council at its Oct. 9 meeting. Two council members opposed the project, however, saying the project was too dense for the area.
As part of approving the special land use permits for the project at 1134 Hammond Drive and adjacent to the Dunwoody MARTA Station, the mayor and council included two conditions that the developers must meet: the office building must be LEED certified; and the city must issue a building permit within two years and construction completed within four years. If not, the SLUPs approved shall be deemed null and void.
Brandon Houston of Trammell Crow told the mayor and City Council that his company is in talks with a tenant that is seeking to locate its headquarters in the office building. The hotel and accessibility to MARTA are key reasons the company is considering locating to Dunwoody at this site, he said.
Square footage of the office building is just under 350,000 square feet. The hotel will have 193 rooms. A pedestrian bridge would connect the MARTA station to the office tower and to the hotel. The location next to a MARTA station is a strong selling point for potential office tower tenants and also for the hotel, which would likely serve mainly business travelers, Houston said. Houston said the tenant he is in talks with plans to have at least 150 employees use MARTA.
Councilmember Terry Nall and Lynn Deutsch voted against the development. Deutsch said she believed the project was too big and dense for the area and Nall said the developer did not provide a compelling reason for him to approve such a large project when he said the city was getting little in return, such as a 0.1-acre pocket park between the office tower and MARTA station.
Nall also raised his concerns about the city’s analysis stating traffic would increase by 7.1 percent in the area.
The hotel will include a roof deck and bar where tenants as well as employees of the office tower will be able to access.
The hotel and the tower would have an elevated walkway and terrace connecting them.
Square footage of the office building is just under 350,000 square feet. The hotel will have 193 rooms. A pedestrian bridge would connect the MARTA station to the office tower and to the hotel.
The project is to be built on just more than 4 acres of a largely unused portion of the Perimeter Mall parking lot that fronts Hammond Drive and the MARTA rail line and is located across the street from the State Farm development.
Trammell Crow is seeking a $130 million tax break from the Dunwoody Development Authority with plans to break ground next year and open in 2020.