Abernathy 400 - Another office tower (or two) proposed for Sandy Springs (Atlanta: 2014, hotel)

[jsvh]

Abernathy 400 Proves Perimeter Is Cuckoo for Office Space - Development du jour - Curbed Atlanta

The Perimeter is so hungry for office space that a project called Abernathy 400 intends to add 570,000 square feet of it directly across Georgia 400 from Northpark 100's proposed 1.4 million square feet. It may seem bold to sidle up right next to what may end up being the nation's tallest suburban tower, but that's exactly what a trio of developers (Cousins, Ackerman & Co. and H.J. Russell & Co.) intends to do. Confidence in the Perimeter is clearly sky high. Two sets of renderings have emerged for the project, one with a single tower of about 30 stories, the other with two smaller towers. Either way, the project is expected to feature around 30,000 square feet of retail, a 400-room hotel, a seven-level garage with spots for 2,000 cars and enough office space to provide a "full-service corporate campus" in "the top submarket for Fortune 1000 companies." The developers boast that tenants will have "prominent signage and exposure to more than 400,000 vehicles per day" on the Perimeter. It's that 400,000 figure that's the concern.

[DawgPark]

Perimeter is en fuego . . . as Dan Patrick would say.

Good to see the ATL flourishing again. Seems like a big growth announcement in some part of metro ATL everyday.

[Ohhsweetconcord]

Yikes. I work right there and this area can't handle an extra 4000+ cars a day (when combined with Northpark 100). I guess it helps that a lot of the traffic would be exiting and entering 400 opposite of the office-heavy side east of 400, but the car load is pretty miserable no matter which direction.

To add to that disappointing bit, this site isn't MARTA accessible and the campus design is dated. I guess I'm just bummed to see all this extra office development in the Perimeter area. I don't like working in this area and I don't like the idea of Atlanta'a development being further dragged North.

[MattCW]

Not MARTA accessible??? Good grief, the walking distance from the actual Sandy Springs station entrance is less than half a mile away, 2200 feet including crossing the street. With the Northpark 100 development, all you'd need is a few sidewalk improvements on that side to drop that number to right about a quarter mile. Depending on if Northpark connects directly to the station like Northpointe (is that the one that's there now?) the outdoor part of the walk might be quite a bit shorter!

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Ohhsweetconcord

To add to that disappointing bit, this site isn't MARTA accessible and the campus design is dated. I guess I'm just bummed to see all this extra office development in the Perimeter area. I don't like working in this area and I don't like the idea of Atlanta'a development being further dragged North.

The property is less than a 0.5 mi walk from the entrance to Sandy Springs MARTA station. But I agree they are not doing a good job of making it pedestrian accessible.

[Gulch]

A 2,000 space parking garage literally 100 feet from those townhomes? Pass.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Not MARTA accessible??? Good grief, the walking distance from the actual Sandy Springs station entrance is less than half a mile away, 2200 feet including crossing the street. With the Northpark 100 development, all you'd need is a few sidewalk improvements on that side to drop that number to right about a quarter mile. Depending on if Northpark connects directly to the station like Northpointe (is that the one that's there now?) the outdoor part of the walk might be quite a bit shorter!

People are lazy and will complain about walking 1/2 to the train station. They want a direct connection from the office to the station.

[Ohhsweetconcord]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Not MARTA accessible??? Good grief, the walking distance from the actual Sandy Springs station entrance is less than half a mile away, 2200 feet including crossing the street. With the Northpark 100 development, all you'd need is a few sidewalk improvements on that side to drop that number to right about a quarter mile. Depending on if Northpark connects directly to the station like Northpointe (is that the one that's there now?) the outdoor part of the walk might be quite a bit shorter!

Yo, I work in one of the Northpark buildings. I know how close these buildings are to MARTA. I've ridden MARTA there. My point is that pedestrian access was an afterthought in the design and location choice. Walking around this part of Perimeter is unpleasant at best, as the road, architecture, and site design were all built with car commuting in mind. I don't see any different thought in the design of Abernathy 400, which will force MARTA users to walk an extra 5 minutes just to get to the building.

Simply put, I just hate the way the Perimeter area is laid out.

Someone taking MARTA would expect somewhere between a 12-15 minute walk, which is certainly doable, but these builders don't make it any easier.

[arjay57]

I say it is all about the quality of the walk. If the pedestrian route is perceived as safe, interesting and protected from traffic people don't mind walking.

But if you've got to travel across a forbidding or pedestrian unfriendly landscape people don't want to do it.

[ATLJR]

Ohhsweetconcord is absolutely right. I understand others are saying it's only a half mile, which is a 10-15 minute walk, but as arjay said, it's about the quality of walk and this stretch is about as low quality as it gets. You're passing under a highway, having to traverse on and off ramps, which will be highly congested with traffic, and you're walking along 8 lane roads. Good portions of the route from this development don't even have sidewalks currently. The area is eventually going to shoot itself in the foot. I suppose if you want anything for the sake of new development, this is fine, but long term the spread out office park nature of Dunwoody is going to limit its future growth and desirability.