Perimeter Center
Encyclopedia
Perimeter Center is a neighborhood and major edge city
in metro Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is centered on Perimeter Mall
, the nucleus around which it has formed. Perimeter Center is located north-northeast of Atlanta proper, and lies within two cities - Dunwoody
and Sandy Springs
. It is also one of the largest edge cities in the United States, comprising over 29000000 square feet (2,694,188.2 m²) of office space, more than Tysons Corner in metropolitan Washington, and Uptown Houston
.
Perimeter Center spans two counties, DeKalb
to the east and Fulton
to the west, with the county line running straight north and south just a few hundred yards or meters to the west of the mall
. This line also demarcates the city of Sandy Springs to the west from the city of Dunwoody to the east. Just to the southwest is the interchange of two major freeways: the north/south Georgia 400, and the "top end" of the Interstate 285
beltway, "the Perimeter" for which the Mall and the area around it were named. The Perimeter Center Community Improvement District is made up of two separate self-taxing community improvement districts, set-up by the two counties to improve the area. While legally separate, they work together as a single entity.
. A MARTA
transit connection was established with the opening of the Dunwoody
and Medical Center Stations
in 1996 and the Sandy Springs Station
in 2000. Perimeter Center was a focal point for the incorporation of Sandy Springs in 2005 and Dunwoody in 2008. While DeKalb County threatened to sue Dunwoody over Perimeter Center's inclusion in the new city, the lawsuit never came to fruition.
s that are built near major indoor malls, but also many office parks with high-rise office buildings, including the world headquarters
of United Parcel Service
(UPS), AT&T Mobility, Cox Enterprises
, Haverty's and Newell Rubbermaid
.
The King and Queen Towers, formally known as Concourse at Landmark Center
, are the most recognizable due to the artistic structures on top of them. The skyline
can be seen from Kennesaw Mountain
. WAMJ 107.5 uses one of the buildings in the area (1050 Crowne Point) to transmit
from, displacing W298AA (also on 107.5), a broadcast translator for WMBW FM in Chattanooga, whose relay transmitted from Buckhead
.
Most recently, there is a new shopping area called Perimeter Place that emulates a town center rather than a typical strip mall. Many new higher-end apartment buildings are located here. The first high-rise condominium
tower, called the Manhattan, sold out during construction, and several more are planned, creating housing
for the many professional
s who work in the area, and hopefully reducing the traffic
that clogs the two freeways. Similar development
s are happening to the south in Buckhead
and Midtown.
— nicknamed for its cluster of hospitals and doctors’ offices — is located near the intersection of Georgia 400 and Interstate 285, on the Sandy Springs side of Perimeter Center. Pill Hill has become the health-care mecca of Atlanta, with three hospitals, hundreds of physician practices, multiple outpatient centers and support services making it a premier location for medical practices. Pill Hill has grown exponentially since it began taking shape in the late 1960s when Scottish Rite
, which was previously a children’s convalescent home, expanded into a full-fledged medical center in 1965. Northside Hospital became the first major medical provider to build on Pill Hill in 1970, and Saint Joseph’s
was built soon after. The area has seen a major transformation over the past 40 years, as Northside has grown from 250 beds to 537 beds, while Saint Joseph’s completed a 64-bed expansion in 2005 to bring it to a total of 410 beds. MARTA serves the district through the Medical Center Station
.
. There are three MARTA
train stations in the area. Opened in June 1996, Dunwoody
station swings out east of the county line to serve the mall at the southwest corner of its parking lot
. Going back west of the line is Sandy Springs
station, located under one of the busiest intersections in the area. North of there is the North Springs
station next to Georgia 400, currently the end of the north line. Both of these opened in December 2000, and so far are the last two in the system as there is no state funding.
A further extension which has been studied but not planned is up the 400 corridor to Alpharetta, the location of another edge city about 10 miles (16.1 km) or 16 kilometers to the north-northeast. The Atlanta Regional Commission
has this in long-term plans, along with an east/west light rail
route along the Perimeter, going west to the Cumberland/Galleria edge city (about 9 miles (14.5 km) or 15 kilometers west-southwest), and east to the Doraville area to meet the existing northeast MARTA line. The Concept 3 plan, approved in 2008, also has the northward extension as light rail.
Edge city
"Edge city" is an American term for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional urban area in what had recently been a residential suburb or semi-rural community...
in metro Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is centered on Perimeter Mall
Perimeter Mall
Perimeter Mall is a super-regional shopping mall in Dunwoody, Georgia, just north of Atlanta, near the highway interchange of Interstate 285 and Georgia 400....
, the nucleus around which it has formed. Perimeter Center is located north-northeast of Atlanta proper, and lies within two cities - Dunwoody
Dunwoody, Georgia
Dunwoody is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. It is a northern suburb of Atlanta. Dunwoody became incorporated as a city on December 1, 2008...
and Sandy Springs
Sandy Springs, Georgia
Sandy Springs is a city in north Georgia, United States. It is a northern suburb of Atlanta. With a 2010 population of 93,853, Sandy Springs is the sixth-largest city in the state and the second-largest city in Metro Atlanta. Sandy Springs is located in north Fulton County, Georgia, just south of...
. It is also one of the largest edge cities in the United States, comprising over 29000000 square feet (2,694,188.2 m²) of office space, more than Tysons Corner in metropolitan Washington, and Uptown Houston
Uptown Houston
The Uptown District of Houston is located 6.2 miles west of downtown and is centered along Post Oak Boulevard, Westheimer Road , and the Galleria...
.
Perimeter Center spans two counties, DeKalb
DeKalb County, Georgia
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population of the county was 691,893 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is the city of Decatur. It is bordered to the west by Fulton County and contains roughly 10% of the city of Atlanta...
to the east and Fulton
Fulton County, Georgia
Fulton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. Its county seat is Atlanta, the state capital since 1868 and the principal county of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
to the west, with the county line running straight north and south just a few hundred yards or meters to the west of the mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
. This line also demarcates the city of Sandy Springs to the west from the city of Dunwoody to the east. Just to the southwest is the interchange of two major freeways: the north/south Georgia 400, and the "top end" of the Interstate 285
Interstate 285
Interstate 285 is an Interstate Highway loop encircling Atlanta, Georgia, for . I-285 is also known as unsigned State Route 407 and is colloquially referred to as the Perimeter. Suburban sprawl has made it one of the most heavily traveled roadways in the United States, and portions of the highway...
beltway, "the Perimeter" for which the Mall and the area around it were named. The Perimeter Center Community Improvement District is made up of two separate self-taxing community improvement districts, set-up by the two counties to improve the area. While legally separate, they work together as a single entity.
History
Like many edge cities, Perimeter Center was farmland until the late 1960s. In 1971, Perimeter Mall opened, constructed on a former cow pasture and debuting as the seventh mall in metro Atlanta. Perimeter Mall was ostensibly named after the 64 miles (103 km) long Interstate 285 which circumscribes Atlanta’s perimeter, and at one time was the edge of Atlanta’s suburban extent. Since the opening of the mall, Perimeter Center was developed though office parks constructed adjacent to the mall, including the Ravinia and Concourse complexes in the 1980s. An expansion of Georgia 400 in 1993 provided a direct highway link to BuckheadBuckhead (Atlanta)
Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...
. A MARTA
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA is the principal rapid-transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the ninth-largest in the United States. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting...
transit connection was established with the opening of the Dunwoody
Dunwoody (MARTA station)
Dunwoody is an elevated metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It is located at the southwest corner of Perimeter Mall, and also serves the surrounding high-rise office parks in the Perimeter Center business district...
and Medical Center Stations
Medical Center (MARTA station)
Medical Center is an at-grade metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It serves the Pill Hill neighborhood of Perimeter Center, the location of Northside Hospital , St...
in 1996 and the Sandy Springs Station
Sandy Springs (MARTA station)
Sandy Springs is an underground metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It serves the Perimeter Center area, including high-rise office parks near Georgia 400 and Abernathy Road, north of Perimeter Mall and within the recently-incorporated...
in 2000. Perimeter Center was a focal point for the incorporation of Sandy Springs in 2005 and Dunwoody in 2008. While DeKalb County threatened to sue Dunwoody over Perimeter Center's inclusion in the new city, the lawsuit never came to fruition.
Buildings
The area is home to not only the typical strip mallStrip mall
A strip mall is an open-area shopping center where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front...
s that are built near major indoor malls, but also many office parks with high-rise office buildings, including the world headquarters
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
of United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
(UPS), AT&T Mobility, Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
, Haverty's and Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid
Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products including such well-known brands as Rubbermaid food storage, home organization, and refuse container products; Sharpie, PaperMate, Parker and Waterman writing instruments; Calphalon gourmet cookware; Goody beauty and...
.
The King and Queen Towers, formally known as Concourse at Landmark Center
Concourse at Landmark Center
Built in phases between 1984 and 1991, the Concourse at Landmark Center is a real estate development in metro Atlanta's Perimeter Center business district, in the city of Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States...
, are the most recognizable due to the artistic structures on top of them. The skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...
can be seen from Kennesaw Mountain
Kennesaw Mountain
Kennesaw Mountain is a high-running ridge between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia in the United States with a summit elevation of . It is the highest point in the core metro Atlanta area, and fifth after further-north exurban counties are considered...
. WAMJ 107.5 uses one of the buildings in the area (1050 Crowne Point) to transmit
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
from, displacing W298AA (also on 107.5), a broadcast translator for WMBW FM in Chattanooga, whose relay transmitted from Buckhead
Buckhead (Atlanta)
Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...
.
Most recently, there is a new shopping area called Perimeter Place that emulates a town center rather than a typical strip mall. Many new higher-end apartment buildings are located here. The first high-rise condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
tower, called the Manhattan, sold out during construction, and several more are planned, creating housing
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
for the many professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
s who work in the area, and hopefully reducing the traffic
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...
that clogs the two freeways. Similar development
Land development
Land development refers to altering the landscape in any number of ways such as:* changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing...
s are happening to the south in Buckhead
Buckhead (Atlanta)
Buckhead is the uptown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, comprising approximately the northern one-fifth of the city. Buckhead is a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast, and it is the third-largest business district in Atlanta, behind Downtown and Midtown...
and Midtown.
Pill Hill
Pill HillPill Hill (Atlanta)
Pill Hill is a major cluster of hospitals and doctors’ offices in northern metro Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Pill Hill is in Sandy Springs, Georgia, near the intersection of Georgia 400 and Interstate 285, in the Perimeter Center district...
— nicknamed for its cluster of hospitals and doctors’ offices — is located near the intersection of Georgia 400 and Interstate 285, on the Sandy Springs side of Perimeter Center. Pill Hill has become the health-care mecca of Atlanta, with three hospitals, hundreds of physician practices, multiple outpatient centers and support services making it a premier location for medical practices. Pill Hill has grown exponentially since it began taking shape in the late 1960s when Scottish Rite
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a not-for-profit healthcare organization, was formed in 1998 when Egleston Children’s Health Care System and Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center merged. Both hospitals maintained their original locations, but the merger brought together Egleston’s teaching and...
, which was previously a children’s convalescent home, expanded into a full-fledged medical center in 1965. Northside Hospital became the first major medical provider to build on Pill Hill in 1970, and Saint Joseph’s
Saint Joseph's Hospital (Atlanta)
Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta is an acute care hospital located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of Catholic Health East. Saint Joseph's was recognized as one of the 50 finest hospitals in the country by HealthGrades for 2007....
was built soon after. The area has seen a major transformation over the past 40 years, as Northside has grown from 250 beds to 537 beds, while Saint Joseph’s completed a 64-bed expansion in 2005 to bring it to a total of 410 beds. MARTA serves the district through the Medical Center Station
Medical Center (MARTA station)
Medical Center is an at-grade metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It serves the Pill Hill neighborhood of Perimeter Center, the location of Northside Hospital , St...
.
Cityscape
Transportation
Perimeter Center is connected to Buckhead, Midtown and downtown Atlanta via heavy-rail rapid transitRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
. There are three MARTA
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA is the principal rapid-transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the ninth-largest in the United States. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting...
train stations in the area. Opened in June 1996, Dunwoody
Dunwoody (MARTA station)
Dunwoody is an elevated metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It is located at the southwest corner of Perimeter Mall, and also serves the surrounding high-rise office parks in the Perimeter Center business district...
station swings out east of the county line to serve the mall at the southwest corner of its parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
. Going back west of the line is Sandy Springs
Sandy Springs (MARTA station)
Sandy Springs is an underground metro station on the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system. It serves the Perimeter Center area, including high-rise office parks near Georgia 400 and Abernathy Road, north of Perimeter Mall and within the recently-incorporated...
station, located under one of the busiest intersections in the area. North of there is the North Springs
North Springs (MARTA station)
North Springs is an elevated metro station in the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rail system and the northern terminus for the Red Line...
station next to Georgia 400, currently the end of the north line. Both of these opened in December 2000, and so far are the last two in the system as there is no state funding.
A further extension which has been studied but not planned is up the 400 corridor to Alpharetta, the location of another edge city about 10 miles (16.1 km) or 16 kilometers to the north-northeast. The Atlanta Regional Commission
Atlanta Regional Commission
The Atlanta Regional Commission is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for the metro Atlanta, Georgia region, as defined as a 10-county area including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties, including the city of...
has this in long-term plans, along with an east/west light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
route along the Perimeter, going west to the Cumberland/Galleria edge city (about 9 miles (14.5 km) or 15 kilometers west-southwest), and east to the Doraville area to meet the existing northeast MARTA line. The Concept 3 plan, approved in 2008, also has the northward extension as light rail.