The Sandy Springs City Council created a downtown using an empty parking lot
beside Roswell Road with the adoption of a master plan in 2012.
It would be six more years before the first phase of City Springs was completed with the opening of the new city hall and Performing Arts Center in May 2018. The
retail and restaurant spaces took longer to open, and City Springs was considered fully opened in September 2018.
The vision set by the council was to promote community interaction by creating
a safe and welcoming area for all residents.
Mayor Rusty Paul said the city had no place where the residents could come together and build the connective tissue of the city.
“This was just one big asphalt parking lot, but we identified this as the place we
wanted to put city hall, because it’s one of the highest points in the city, and you could see it,” Paul said.
In addition to the public government buildings and a four-acre City Green, the 14-acre City Springs mixed-use development has restaurants, exercise boutiques, and apartments.
Paul said the City Green is where the spirit of Sandy Springs can be found. A community skating rink opened for the season in November. Concerts are held using the stage. The Sparkle Sandy Springs parade draws 5,000 to 6,000 people. And for the Fourth of July celebration, 8,000 to 12,000 people attend. He said none of this could have been done before City Springs was developed.
“When I talk about it being transformative, I don’t think anybody in Sandy Springs can imagine Sandy Springs without this complex because of the versatility, the ability to do so many different things, to come together as a community,” Paul said.
The community can visit and put a blanket out, or a table, they can set up a table for their organization or just come out to have a great time with friends, Paul said.
When the original plans for a city hall at the site expanded to include a Performing Arts Center and a conference center, it opened up opportunities. Paul said soon after he was elected, he was at a concert at the Heritage Green when he looked up at the hill to the future city hall site. Looking at the concertgoers enjoying themselves around him, he realized the space on the hill offered more opportunities for the community to gather and connect.
The City Council supported the idea, and then-city manager, John McDonough,
was charged with starting the process on something that had no plans or concepts.
Paul wasn’t the only person who saw opportunities at the City Springs site. Andy Bauman had founded the Sandy Springs Farmers Market in 2010 with Jeff
Langfelder in a bank parking lot on the corner of Sandy Springs Circle and Johnson
Ferry Road, drawing attention to the site’s possibilities.
When Bauman was elected to the City Council two years later, he began
working with other council members on the City Springs master plan.
Council set the budget for the public part of City Springs at $220 million, selecting Holder Construction to construct the buildings. Agreements were signed with private partners Carter & Associates and Selig Enterprises for the residential and
retail development.
Demolition crews began work to take down the former Target building at 235
Johnson Ferry Road in January 2014, a big step in the city’s revitalization efforts.
Public input was taken through 2015, with the name “City Springs” revealed at a
groundbreaking event in September of that year.
Four years later City Springs opened with a ribbon-cutting.
Bauman envisions more for City Springs even for its first phase. Extensive power
connections were installed next to the City Green along Mount Vernon Highway,
offering an opportunity for small retail or food spaces. He said the location for the standalone restroom facilities on that side of the City Green could be repurposed and still retain those facilities.
Attempts to develop Phase Two of City Springs have stalled due to market constraints and financing difficulties. When the council awarded a contract to a development team in June 2023, construction had been expected to begin in late 2024.
The idea is to develop the parcels the city owns just south of Mount Vernon
Road, across from City Green. The concepts call for more restaurants, experiential retail, an upscale boutique hotel, office spaces, limited residential options, additional green spaces, and shared parking facilities.
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