A food hall where several restaurants are housed in small spaces within one large building could soon come to the Georgetown community in a new proposal for what’s known as the Dunwoody Green commercial site. This idea switches gears from a developer’s original plans to build several individual restaurants on the property.
Representatives from Crim & Associates and their partner Ed Hall of Capital Properties Group met May 23 with the city’s Urban Redevelopment Agency to pitch their idea of building the food hall on the site at the intersection of Dunwoody Park and North Shallowford Road and adjacent to a residential neighborhood.
No site plan has been developed and no tenants have been selected. But Hall said the concept would be like the Marietta Square Market food hall, which opened in March with 20 restaurant and retail merchants. Capital Properties Group was a developer of the Marietta food hall. Other well-known food halls include Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market.
Early talks for the proposed Dunwoody food hall include incorporating a farm theme as a nod to the city’s agricultural history. The building would have one main entrance and include a park space with outdoor seating. No rooftop bars, though, because of the site’s close proximity to residential housing.
URA owns the Dunwoody Green property as part of the city’s larger public-private Project Renaissance, an urban redevelopment plan to revitalize the Georgetown area that dates back to 2012.
Crim & Associates entered into a contract in February 2018 with the URA to buy the Dunwoody Green property for $900,000 with plans to build up to six individual buildings for restaurants and retail. City officials boasted the area would be the location of “chef-driven” restaurants many Dunwoody residents have been clamoring for.
Trying to find tenants for the space proved difficult and Crim & Associates asked for and received two extensions on its contract with the city to close on the deal. The latest extension was slated to close this month.
With the new food hall plan, the URA agreed to again extend Crim & Associate’s contract until Dec. 31. If everything works out as planned, Crim & Associates said it could break down to build a new 20,000-square-foot building by the second quarter of next year.
If the project does go through, it would be the final piece in the Project Renaissance puzzle, which includes single-family homes, multiuse trails, Georgetown Park and Pernoshal Park. The Dunwoody Green site is specifically planned to be a catalyst for additional development activity in the Georgetown area and North Shallowford Road corridor, while also creating a sense of place for the community.
“It’s super exciting for the city,” said Ken Wright, who has chaired the URA since 2012. “I’m ready to tie a bow on it [Project Renaissance]. And this is that bow tie.”