Mercedes-Benz could announce HQ relo to Atlanta on Tuesday; focus on Central Perimeter (Macon: universities, vs)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Pemgin

Reading the ABC article, it states they actually wanted a suburban campus by itself and not a part of a dense, mixed-use development, which is completely retrograde compared to what most companies are going for now.

They did quote wanting to be accessible to transit for millennials who may prefer to live in the city.

[jsvh]

And exodus of residents from Buckhead? Do you even read this forum? Buckhead and Midtown (Including O4W) are the hottest parts of the city for residential development. There are thousands of residential units under construction in Buckhead and Midtown and they still cannot keep up with demand.

And realize that if your company has 10 workers in Peachtree City and 20 in Roswell, your "center of workers" is still around Midtown.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And exodus of residents from Buckhead? Do you even read this forum? Buckhead and Midtown (Including O4W) are the hottest parts of the city for residential development. There are thousands of residential units under construction in Buckhead and Midtown and they still cannot keep up with demand.

And realize that if your company has 10 workers in Peachtree City and 20 in Roswell, your "center of workers" is still around Midtown.

yea and peachtree city is great, but it is a very small quiet suburb compared to the northside that has millions. (Again look at my maps in the prior post. This is the real type of data companies look at when weighing corporate locations.) Atlanta has many great things, but it is not the center of everything.

Those parts of the city are booming, but as previously discussed in other forums you are over-estimating how many people that really involves.

You've got to take these rose-colored glasses off and actually learn a small bit of demography and realize where people live.


No one discussed an exodus of residents from Buckhead. That was all you my friend. It has long been known that most of Buckhead is not very dense at all. It has always been that way.

[LovelySummer]

And thank goodness MB is NOT coming to Buckhead. We dodged that bullet for sure. I do feel sorry for the employees if MB chooses perimeter, however, bc perimeter has the absolute worst daily gridlock I have seen in the Atl area. I experienced it once and never made the mistake of being in that area between 3 and 6:30 again. WTH?????? Traffic is a complete nightmare at perimeter and companies are steadily dumping more cars on the road in that area by moving there. Wow.

My first (and last) run in with the perimeter area between 3 and 6 was the time it took me AN HOUR to drive from Scottish-Rite to Northside Hospital. Yes, one hour. Then, it took another 30 minutes to turn the corner and get on the interstate. Then when I got on the interstate, it was a total parking lot dragging along at 5 miles per hour. I just gave up got off at the mall exit, went and had dinner at Maggiano's and just waited it out. It was brutal up there. That experience is also one reason I would not consider looking at Dunwoody or the perimeter area when it came time to purchase my next home. That area is out of the question for me. MB better be ready to open their doors at 6 and let ppl leave at 2.

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

There are less than half a million in the city. The density isn't even higher in many neighborhoods... just the core and we are only talking about a few hundred thousand...

and yes... there are significantly more people to the north than you make it sound. There is no exaggeration. Density doesn't save much. Atlanta proper is NOT that dense. and the area to the northern suburbs is significantly larger. Also the least dense area of that dark blue swath in this whole mix isn't southern Forsyth county. It is the huge residential mass of executive housing around Buckhead, particularly to the west and northwest of Buckhead's CBD. The dense areas of Buckhead barely make a dent for making up for that. What is happening on the Beltline and in Midtown is great, but that doesn't make up for the fact that the rest of the city has an avg density of just 3,000 ppsm, which isn't as far away from the core suburban counties as you want it to be.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

And thank goodness MB is NOT coming to Buckhead. We dodged that bullet for sure. I do feel sorry for the employees if MB chooses perimeter, however, bc perimeter has the absolute worst daily gridlock I have seen in the Atl area. I experienced it once and never made the mistake of being in that area between 3 and 6:30 again. WTH?????? Traffic is a complete nightmare at perimeter and companies are steadily dumping more cars on the road in that area by moving there. Wow.

Yea that is one issue with the area. It has an over-reliance on the freeways to act as arterial roads in and out of the Dunwoody/Sandy Springs.

There really aren't many good thoroughfares to leave Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. It took the state stepping in and taking over Johnson Ferry and Abernathy just to make that happen. The area needs a bit more of that going on.

I don't work there, but from my limited experience it helps to learn the secondary exits of that area and avoid the major ones, like Ashford Dunwoody

[JoeP]

Perimeter is absolutely terrible. I work at Ravinia and last night the line to exit - to simply get through the light at Ashford Dunwoody and Hammond was backed up around the complex - that = at least 30 minutes to get off the property. At least.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

Yea that is one issue with the area. It has an over-reliance on the freeways to act as arterial roads in and out of the Dunwoody/Sandy Springs.

There really aren't many good thoroughfares to leave Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. It took the state stepping in and taking over Johnson Ferry and Abernathy just to make that happen. The area needs a bit more of that going on.

I don't work there, but from my limited experience it helps to learn the secondary exits of that area and avoid the major ones, like Ashford Dunwoody

Mercedes would have been fine in Buckhead but Perimeter is an excellent choice, too.

They've got excellent infrastructure up there, with MARTA, I-285, GA400 and a number of good arterial roads. Improvements like the diverging diamond interchange on Ashford Dunwoody, the flyover bridge and the new ramps at Hammond have really helped out.

[jsvh]

cwkimbro, Think you are just going to have to stick your brand of rose-colored glasses and I will stick to mine.

I cannot find anywhere that gives more than speculation on Atlanta's metro center of population. However, it is relevant to to note that Georgia's center of population is still closer to Macon than Atlanta.

[JoeP]

They've got excellent infrastructure up there, with MARTA, I-285, GA400 and a number of good arterial roads. Improvements like the diverging diamond interchange on Ashford Dunwoody, the flyover bridge and the new ramps at Hammond have really helped out.

No, it's not excellent infrastructure. It's the opposite. The diverging diamond made it worse for those of use who travel 285 WB as well. It's an absolute train wreck.... every day.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Mercedes would have been fine in Buckhead but Perimeter is an excellent choice, too.

They've got excellent infrastructure up there, with MARTA, I-285, GA400 and a number of good arterial roads. Improvements like the diverging diamond interchange on Ashford Dunwoody, the flyover bridge and the new ramps at Hammond have really helped out.

Understood Arjay.

The diverging diamond is a great enhancement (for most). It increased the functional capacity of the whole interchange. the new fly over bridges and exits really do help.

However, that directly highlights exactly what I was referring to. Most of those improvements are leading people to a freeway to leave or enter the area. The arterial road network does not connect well going southeast, east, north, or west -out- of those cities. There are few crossings over the river and few into Gwinnett. The city governments have mostly resisted the widening/straightening of what were quiet 2-lane roads leading in other directions before Perimeter became what it was.

The arterial road network in and out of that area is a nightmare. All of the enhancements, including the ones you referred to, are designed to funnel people to the freeways. For most to leave the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody area it is done by Freeway with few other arterial road options to help.

The main exception is Johnson Ferry/Abernathy into East Cobb, which the GDOT had to takeover the previously county roads to make that happen.

A more traditional city CBD has both a network of freeways and arterial roads leaving the area at the same time.