Perimeter Center

Perimeter Center is a major edge city within metro Atlanta. It is located north-northeast of Atlanta proper, and is centered on Perimeter Mall, the nucleus around which it has formed.

It 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 also divides the new (as of 2005) city of Sandy Springs to the west from the currently-unincorporated area of Dunwoody (which will become a city as of December 2008) 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 actually two separate community improvement districts, set-up by the two counties to improve the area. While legally separate, they work together as a single entity.

Buildings

The area is home to not only the typical strip malls 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) and Newell Rubbermaid. The area contains more office space than Birmingham, Alabama, and as of June 2008 had the lowest vacancy rate of all of metro Atlanta's major business districts.

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. WJZZ-FM 107.5 uses one of the buildings in the area 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 professionals who work in the area, and hopefully reducing the traffic that clogs the two freeways. Similar developments are happening to the south in Buckhead and Midtown.

Transportation

Perimeter Center is connected to Buckhead and Midtown via heavy-rail rapid transit. 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 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 or 15 kilometers west-southwest), and east to the Doraville area to meet the existing northeast MARTA line.