Every week there seems to be a major development announced along the north-end Perimeter on the Dunwoody-Sandy Springs border. Now that it's come to light that the AJC is being booted from their digs for the development of another big build, AJC snark master Bill Torpy has decided it's high time to weigh in, calling the project the "Megapolis Behind The Mall." In a nutshell: GID Development has announced plans for a massive, mixed-use development across the street from the currently rising State Farm Campus. While that project, dubbed "Park Center," is cramming 2.2 million square feet of offices for 3,000 workers and a hotel on 17 acres, GID has more ambitious plans for their 42-acre tract. Like four times more ambitious.





"High Street," as GID has billed the announced development (channeling British sentiments), will be a small city of its own. The plans call for a staggering 8 million square feet of development. The breakdown: 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 1 million square feet of office space, a 750 room hotel and 3,000 residential units. While this development would be a notch in Dunwoody's hat, Sandy Springs has their fair share of projects just a stone's throw away. High Street could be right at home with its Sandy Springs neighbors, such as Abernathy 400 and the Mercedes-Benz North America HQ. With a planned network of trails and roadways, the development could enjoy interconnectivity to other new projects in the area, as well as the planned park beneath the MARTA line, next to Perimeter Mall.

This is Atlanta, so despite being across the street from the Dunwoody MARTA station, the project includes 8,500 parking spaces — that's 1,300 more spaces than the decks at Atlantic Station. An unfortunate byproduct of all that parking will be all that traffic on the adjacent, already congested roads. In an area infamous for horrendous traffic (so bad it warrants the largest investment in GDOT's history) and with all these proposed high-rises, maybe this development wave is a secret ploy by MARTA to make trains seem downright luxurious. On the bright side, this demonstrates that maybe there's finally some correlation between transit lines and urban growth in Atlanta.

· Holy urbanization! Megapolis just ate my office! [AJC; subscriber]

· High Street Atlanta [GID]

· Is North End Perimeter Ripe for Skyscraper Boom? [Curbed Atlanta]

· Abernathy 400 Proves Perimeter Is Cuckoo for Office Space [Curbed Atlanta]

· Holy Skyscraper! It's the Tallest Suburban Tower in the Country [Curbed Atlanta]