An off again, on again project across from Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody is back on. The development, at 84 Perimeter Center East, is scheduled to bring both mixed-use retail and a new hotel to the property where currently a vacant bank building sits. [The bank "reopened" briefly in 2016 for the filming of the hit film "Baby Driver."] Previously marketed as "Perimeter Center," indications are that the project's new name is "84 Perimeter."

Recently released marketing materials indicate that the project has been scaled back once more, now down to just 30,000 square feet of Class A retail, down from an originally proposed 70,000 and then a revised 50,000 square feet of retail space. The hotel, previously an unidentified 200 room hotel, is now advertised as a 150 room "boutique" hotel from Hilton Hotels. New materials indicate that the hotel has decreased in size rather significantly, from 12 stories to just 7.

The materials proudly proclaim that among other things:

"The Perimeter office market is the “most valuable” of Atlanta’s submarkets with over $8 billion of Asset Value encompassing over 35 million square feet of office product making it the largest office market in the southeast."

As we have reported previously, the project has been floated in one form or another since at least 2008. The project was most recently marketed in 2017 by The Shopping Center Group.



DeKalb County property records indicate that the property is now controlled by "JSJ Perimeter LLC," a holding company created this past December by John DiGiovanni of Inland Atlantic Development Corporation who is seemingly now leading the redevelopment efforts. Branch Properties, previously the lead developer in the project, is reportedly no longer involved in any way.

Hilton has been especially active in metro Atlanta over the past few years having brought not only its upscale Canopy and Walforf-Astoria brands to the market, but also multiple tru by Hilton properties to Kennesaw Lawrenceville and McDonough . Hilton also plans to bring at least three more Embassy Suites hotels to metro Atlanta in Atlantic Station, Hapeville and Halcyon in Forsyth County. Later this fall, the historic Candler Building on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta will be transformed into The Candler Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton,a boutique property.

The "boutique" Hilton hotel at 84 Perimeter would be among a half dozen or so recent or planned hotels in the Perimeter area.

A new 193 room Hyatt Place Hotel is currently under construction on the back side of Perimeter Mall along Hammond Drive. Marriott plans to brings its AC brand to the area too, with a planned 157 room hotel at 121 Perimeter Center West. The hotel was first approved in 2017, but was delayed until recently. Another new hotel - potentially under the Kimpton flag from IHG - could come to vacant land near the existing Crowne Plaza at Ravinia.

The new hotels are in addition to the Hampton Inn & Suites and Residence Inn by Marriott that opened in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The 132 room Hampton Inn opened at Sterling Pointe along Ashford Dunwoody Road, while the 127 room Residence Inn opened at the Spruill Center, just off Ashford Dunwoody Road along Meadow Lane Road.

Not far away, Branch Properties is looking to redevelop its nearby Ashford Restaurant Park - where Brio Tuscan Grille and McCormick & Schmick's closed - into "Perimeter Marketplace," a mixed-use project that would be anchored by a GreenWise grocery store, an upscale concept from Publix. The project could also get several new restaurants, another hotel and a RaceTrac fuel center and convenience store.

The current plan is for the 84 Perimeter project to be completed in late 2020.

What hotel brand would you like to see open at 84 Perimeter? Do you think the project will finally move forward? What restaurant or retailer do you feel is missing from the Perimeter area?