From Corporate Hubs to Community Events: The Multifaceted Role of Perimeter CIDs

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Greater Perimeter. It’s time for Greater Perimeter Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Greater Perimeter Business Radio in. This is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Ann Hanlon who is the executive director for the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts. Welcome, Ann.

Ann Hanlon: Hi. Good morning. Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to for folks who aren’t familiar. Can you explain the Perimeter CIDs? How are you serving folks?

Ann Hanlon: Yeah, absolutely. So the the perimeter community improvement districts, we are a special purpose tax district. We generate property tax dollars from a private millage rate here from commercial property owners in the perimeter area. And then we are able to privately invest those dollars into projects that benefit the business market, the business community. We can do sort of hard core construction projects, like we help the city governments build sidewalks and trails and intersections and exit ramps off the highway. And we can also participate in like programing and doing sort of like fun events around the area. The whole idea is to keep the perimeter market healthy and thriving and exciting, continuing to be the big economic engine that it is. The Sid, a little bit of history, the the SIDs is we are uh, we’re actually two community improvement districts under one roof. Perimeter SED was founded in 1999, believe it or not. So we’ve we’ve been around for a while. We are one of about 30 special community improvement districts in metro Atlanta. There are big kids, you know, people may or may not have heard of them, but they’re kids in Buckhead and Midtown downtown Atlanta, over the battery where the Braves Stadium is, and out in Gwinnett County and in North Fulton. And all these organizations are functioning to do projects in their areas and make it beautiful. You know, some we do landscaping. We do sort of a whole litany of things to sort of keep our community healthy and vibrant.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you kind of educate the listener a little bit about what makes the perimeter area so special? Like how many companies around are in the in the district? Just to give people an idea of, um, how thriving this, this community and region is.

Ann Hanlon: Yeah. So perimeter perimeter is, is one of the largest concentrations of class A office space in the southeastern United States. So we are the home to many fortune 500 companies that, you know, that you have heard of Mercedes Benz. State farm UPS WestRock. Intercontinental hotels Group. Hapag-lloyd. So this you know, we’re big. We’re a big time corporate headquarters in metro Atlanta. We also have a reputation for being a big time corporate headquarters throughout the whole Southeastern United States. So there’s a lot of investment from corporate America has invested a lot here in this community. Um, and they’ve they’ve banked a lot. They have done that because of the strength of this market. Um, this this area geography. We we’re one of the best geographies in metro Atlanta. We of course, you know, right at the corner of 285 and Georgia 400, we’re served by major highways. We have four Marta stations, four heavy rail Marta train stations that service the district, uh, at Dunwoody, Sandy Springs Medical Center and North Springs. Uh, we’ve got a fantastic network of local roads. You know, so we’ve there are three city governments here with the city of Sandy Springs, the city of Dunwoody and the City of Brookhaven. All of them are sort of interconnected. Working on good roads, good signal timings. And now the most recent thing you know, within the last probably five years is the build out of a first class trail system so that people can, you know, the beauty of perimeter, which has always been the beauty of the market and will continue to be, you know, employees can get here on the train, by car, uh, by bicycle, by trail, if they want to walk here. Um, the market is safe. It is clean. So we’ve the market has for years enjoyed sort of a reputation of being this big corporate headquarters for metro Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. When I, I live in the area. So this is very personal to me. And it’s important to me to share these kind of stories and educate, uh, kind of the world about what makes this area so special. But I’ll tell people that you can just almost throw a stone and hit billion dollar company headquarters in just it’s just unusual that people don’t kind of really appreciate the density of these super large enterprises just in their neighborhood. That’s kind of hidden away, that you may not even know that they’re there. A lot of the times, and especially for a visitor standpoint, they may not even be aware that, like you mentioned, some of these, the largest of these companies are located in their neighborhood.

Ann Hanlon: That’s right. And you know, the beauty the beauty of perimeter is you put it perfectly. These corporations are here. They’re invested here. You know, again, Mercedes Benz, UPS, Cox Enterprises, State Farm, WestRock. You know, I could go. Um, I could go on and on and on. But not only are they physically located here, but they have invested here. So. So our job at the CID is we work for all those companies, you know, we work for all the companies and the, the, the private real estate investors who own the property. And they are like putting their money where their mouth is. They are actually investing in the community there. They are helping to pay for road projects. They’re helping to pay for the trail projects. Um, they they put their money into the CID, which if you sort of think of it, maybe like a homeowner’s association, if if you live in a subdivision, you’re all paying into the HOA, and then the HOA is able to use that money to do things that benefit the entire community. A CID is pretty similar, actually, except it’s these big corporations that are paying in, um, they pay into the CID and then as staff at the CID, we execute all those projects we work, you know, some of them were able to do on our own, uh, like we maintain all the landscaping Escaping in parameter. We spent over $1 million a year just on landscaping. We do new plantings every spring and fall. We pick up all the trash. Um, you know, we like to make sure that it looks nice because a sense of arrival to to these big corporations, it’s important, a sense of arrival.

Ann Hanlon: When you enter the market, it’s important to look like you’ve arrived at a place where people are paying attention to the way that it looks. Uh, they’re also these big corporations through the SED are helping fund projects. So, uh, and a great example is the 285 at Georgia 400 Interchange project, which if you live in the area, you’re really familiar with that, uh, that is an enormous project. It is one of the biggest projects that the Georgia State Department of Transportation has ever built, like in the history of the state. It’s one of the biggest. And the see, I’m happy to say that the SED has helped finance that. We’ve helped. We made a $10 million investment in that project prior to its starting. We lobbied for years to make it happen, and although it has been a very big, complicated, long project, you know, ultimately the corporations and perimeter and these big commercial property owners, they really do a good job of having a long view. You know, they know that a big investment in a project that probably has caused some discomfort for people on some days, because the traffic will snag up every once in a while. But but long term, that is going to make this market healthy, and it’s going to make it accessible so that we can continue to recruit more companies to come here.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you talk a little bit about the Playfully Perimeter initiative?

Ann Hanlon: Yeah. That’s fun. It’s so the CFD, you know, for for years, like I mentioned, we were founded in 1999. Uh, for years the CED really has invested in, you know, hard core in the ground construction projects, and I could look all over the market and give you examples of that. The SED I mentioned 2400 interchange project. The SED helped build the ramps from Hammond Drive onto Georgia 400. The SED helped build the Perimeter Center Parkway flyover bridge. The SED has worked with the city governments to build countless crosswalks and sidewalks and intersections. Um, but you know, like everyone else after Covid, we have tried to evolve our investments to to really sort of invest in the market and do what people want, you know? And now nowadays, the we really are focused on the experience of being in perimeter, not just that hard core construction projects to get people in and get people out more easily with traffic, but also to make it a pleasant experience. You know, once we understand, it’s important for for residents and for employees, once you get here, it needs to be a pleasant experience. It needs to be safe. It needs to be we clean and there needs to be programing. There needs to be things to do. So one of the initiatives that we’ve launched this year, we launched this spring is called Playfully Perimeter.

Ann Hanlon: Uh, it’s really fun. It’s a series of events that are where we, we put on totally free to the community. Um, we invite the community, we advertise on social media, and we’re just doing these pop ups to sort of show people how fun it is. Our next one is going to be, um, next month on August 27th. It’ll be from 3:00 to 7:00 pm over at Perimeter Summit, which is where Villa Christina is. Um, and the Hyatt just across 25, uh, in Brookhaven. And it’s going to be super fun. We’re going to have popsicles. We’re going to have food. We’re going to have music. People can register for free online. They can register through our website, or you can find us through social media. Um, so that’ll be fun. It’s just going to give people something to do. And you can stay tuned because we’re also going to be doing we’re going to try to aim to have these. Once a quarter We’ll be having one that sort of fall festival related in the fall, and a holiday one. We’re going to be working with the city of Dunwoody on their holiday headquarters event in December.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, there are so many things that happen around here, and and it’s wonderful to see the communities while, like you mentioned, like Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven are all kind of their unique neighborhoods. But there’s so much kind of cross-pollination where people are like, you know, I know personally, I live in Sandy Springs, but I shop at the Dunwoody Publix or I’ll go over to Brookhaven for a meal like it’s very connected and they’re not kind of isolating themselves. It seems like they’re trying to play nice together. And our studio is located physically in the Sandy Springs chamber, but we would love to be more of a resource to the entire area to really be that place where these stories can be told. Are you doing like how how have you found these kind of communities working together, you know, for kind of the common good for the region.

Ann Hanlon: Yeah. I, you know, you you nailed it. I mean, I think that in terms of we have to act together as a region because when we are the to keep the perimeter market strong and to keep all these communities strong, like we there’s there’s more horsepower when we all work together. Um, and we for these big economic development prospects as we’re, you know, recruiting companies. Um, StubHub I shout out to Sandy Springs, uh, StubHub just before the big announcement that they’re they’re locating in perimeter within the city of Sandy Springs. I mean, that’s big. You know, they have these big companies with big cachet continuing to choose Sandy Springs and Dunwoody and Brookhaven. We all it’s I think that’s a testament to the fact that we’re all working together. And so corporate America sort of knows that this is a place where there’s a lot of great synergy, and that’s super important. Um, I’m, I was really, really supportive and excited to see the Perimeter Chamber of Commerce. Of course, has has has gone through a merger over the last year. There was a Dunwoody, a Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce and a Sandy Springs Chamber of Commerce.

Ann Hanlon: Those have now merged to serve even a bigger footprint to sort of represent this Dunwoody and Sandy Springs perimeter region, which is fantastic. You’ve got programs like Leadership Perimeter that it serves that really is building this super strong pipeline of leaders and recruiting young people to serve in leadership roles in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs and Brookhaven. So you’ve got the sort of the civic framework and the social fabric there is already so interconnected. And then when you’ve got the city governments who who have to each function and provide services in their own cities, you know, there’s there’s so much coordination that happens constantly with with road projects and trail projects and signal timing and law enforcement. Um, so I think that citizens really, although citizens may not always get a glimpse at all of that interconnectivity, um, and all the coordination and all the work that goes on behind the scenes. Um, I think that residents really are enjoying a vibrant community because there are so many people behind the scenes working together to make that happen.

Lee Kantor: So what is an a day in the life for and look like? It sounds like there’s so much stuff going on. How do you kind of wrangle all the cats here?

Ann Hanlon: Well, you know, I can honestly say I’m really fortunate at the Syd we’ve got, you know, we have we’re governed by, uh, two boards of directors, um, 18 members, uh, our boards of directors are elected and appointed, and they represent the commercial property owners in this market. And, um, you know, I will say I’m really fortunate to work for all these individuals because they’ve got a long term view of what, what where they think this market needs to go. And then on a daily basis, you know, what does it what does a day look like? I think for the CID staff, our job is to really try to implement their vision so they see a future perimeter market that’s not you know, it’s not your grandfather’s perimeter, right? This is not we’re trying to constantly evolve the market. We don’t this is not the perimeter of the 1980s is not perimeter of the 1990s. We’re really trying to lobby and push everybody forward into what perimeter is going to look like for the next 10 to 15 years. Um, so that involves, gosh, on a daily basis. You know, we are always working with the city government partners, um, Mayor Paul and Sandy Springs, Mayor Deutch and Dunwoody, uh, Mayor Park over the city of Brookhaven.

Ann Hanlon: Um, they have excellent city councils. Excellent. Really? Professionally, I would put their city staff for those three cities. Professional city staff up against any cities in the state. You know, these are three professionally run cities that are able to execute projects. Um, and then, you know, we also, of course, lobby on a state level. We are we’re talking to the state Department of Transportation, communicating with the governor’s office. Really always trying to keep perimeter top of mind because there’s a lot of competition, right? Especially in the state of Georgia. There’s a lot of focus everywhere. Um, at the port down in Savannah, certainly in downtown Atlanta, over the battery out in Gwinnett. So our we wake up every day trying to push projects forward and work with our local partners to see how we can be a resource to them, um, to push forward the vision of keeping perimeter, like I said, the safest, cleanest, most highly performing market in metro Atlanta.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And as somebody who’s a resident here and works here, you can just feel kind of the center of gravity of the city of Atlanta kind of edging northward and the. And what your work is doing is helping that I think happen.

Ann Hanlon: Yeah. Well I’m glad. Thank you for saying that. And I’m glad you you can see that. I mean, I you know, we’ve got I really just can’t say it enough. There’s so many people who are, who wake up every day trying to make it easy to do business here in perimeter. You know, we’ve we sort of act like a concierge of sorts to all of our businesses. And so relationships are really important. You know, we we may get a call from a property owner who’s trying to get a permit with the county, or they’re trying to get a zoning with the city government, or they’re just trying to connect with someone. And it’s relationships are so important. So we’ve we really try to to convene people. We we, we try to make sure that all the companies are talking to each other. You know, we we do networking events with we have events among the companies so that we’re, you know, we’re actively trying to make sure that State Farm and UPS and Mercedes-Benz and Cox Enterprises, that they have a forum to all get together, um, to talk about the problems that they’re facing. You know, I’ll give you a recent example, uh, where we’re actually launching a van pull service. There have been some cuts. The state of Georgia recently has made some cuts to commuter bus lines that come in and out of perimeter on a daily basis. So we’ve worked with all the big companies to launch, um, like a big van pool program. That’s called Rapid Ride. If you have any listeners who are interested, they can find it on our website. Um, but this is a service that the SED is working with the state agencies to pay for so that if people need, uh, resources to get into perimeter to come to work, and they, for whatever reason or not able to to have their own car, you’ll be able to do that. So it’s super exciting.

Lee Kantor: And I’m noticing a lot more kind of wider sidewalks, encouraging, more walking around and and exploring that way via bike or or walking. Uh, is that a priority as well.

Ann Hanlon: As a huge priority? You know, and especially since Covid, I think Covid, uh, really illustrated that people want to be outside and trail projects are really important. They’re important, you know. And from where I sit, sort of representing the private, uh, business community and the big private corporations, it’s really, really important to them that their employees are able to access these trails, to get, to get out, to walk, to maybe walk, to work on the trails or to have it as amenity that they’re able to offer, um, to help land new business here in perimeter. The big goal, the big goal that is shared by all of the cities and by the CED, is to connect the perimeter market to path 400, um, which of course is a project that was initiated by our our colleagues down in Buckhead through the Buckhead CID and Livable Buckhead, uh, led by Denise Starling. That connecting our trail system to path 400 is so important, because the path 400 ultimately will connect to the Beltline at its south end. So we are all working on it. We every every segment of trail is is wildly expensive and wildly complicated. And their utilities and their topographical issues. Um, but we’re we’re all determined to make it happen. So hopefully one day in the future, you know, a person would be able to walk or to ride their bikes from Perimeter Mall all the way down to the Beltline on an uninterrupted trail system, which I think would just be amazing.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And I think that that affects like traffic and, uh, getting cars off the road. Like it just changes kind of the look and feel of the experience of living in the metro Atlanta area. I mean it that could be a game changer.

Ann Hanlon: It could. It could be a huge game changer. And there’s so many commercial property owners that own, uh, own property all over metro Atlanta. Um, so there’s a lot of synergy between, you know, commercial property owners, for example, uh, a lot of the same owners who have invested in property in Buckhead have also invested in property and perimeter. So they really understand this, like long term vision of of how that could be a game changer, you know, to be able to be able to just easily and safely ride a bicycle from Buckhead to Perimeter Mall would would totally be a game changer. I think it’s going to is really going to help metro Atlanta, like level up, help us compete with other other metro areas who are already doing this, you know, Austin, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina, um, some cities in the Midwest. This is already happening in other places. And so there’s a lot of us who are determined to make it happen here.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Ann Hanlon: Uh, that’s a great question. Money. Do you have do you have millions of dollars floating around? That always helps. Um, no, I think you know. Thank you so much for for having me on the podcast today. I think, you know, having everybody educated on on what we do as a kid is so important because, you know, we we need community support for all of these things. You know, for the trail projects need that the kid is is wonderful. But there’s really nothing that we can do in a vacuum. We have to have, like our amazing partners at the city of Dunwoody, the city of Sandy Springs, uh, the city of Brookhaven. You know, we do projects and partnership with those cities. They, they, they run point on the projects, and we’re able to be a funding partner, and we’re able to bring the power and the support and the dollars from the business community to support the work that they’re doing. Um, so I think, you know, in terms of your listeners, as long as you can understand what what the challenges are, um, and what the private sector is doing to help that that alone, uh, is helpful and then come out, you know, if you want to really sort of participate in some of the fun programing that we do come out on the 27th of August from 3 to 7. Have some, have some ice cream. Uh, meet some of your neighbors. You know, it’s just great to take part in the community and to understand the community that you’re living in and working in.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I think that you’re among the unsung heroes of the area. And I think it’s important for folks to understand what you’re trying to accomplish and all the things that you have accomplished thus far that, you know, we as residents might be taking for granted because we don’t know, to give you the credit. But I think it’s important to, uh, for to educate people about the work that you’re doing and how important it is to help better our community as a whole. So I want to thank you for doing what you’re doing and sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we do appreciate you.

Ann Hanlon: Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. As I say, it’s it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.

Lee Kantor: Exactly. But it’s also important to understand that there are people behind the scenes that are doing this. So they should get the credit, at least be aware that they exist. So if somebody wants to learn more, is there a website? Is there a place to connect?

Ann Hanlon: Absolutely. So please check out our website. Is perimeter atl.com. Uh, we also have a huge social media presence uh, perimeter ATO and we, you know, it’s a good resource because we don’t only just share our own stuff, we also work really closely with all of our partners. And we always broadcast out what they’re doing, whether it’s the perimeter, um, Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Perimeter chamber or Leadership Perimeter or other organizations like discover, Dunwoody or visit Sandy Springs. You know, we’re working with this. There’s a huge civic fabric in this community, and we’re all working together. There’s a lot of great people making it happen, but generally speaking, you can find all of it on our website or on our social media outlets.

Lee Kantor: Well, and thank you again. Uh, we really do appreciate all the work you’re doing, kind of behind the scenes. And it’s important, I think, for, you know, our listeners to understand that this is important work and people are actively doing things to improve their property values, their, you know, kind of day to day experience here. And, and we just really do appreciate what’s happening over there. Uh, thank you again.

Ann Hanlon: Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Greater Perimeter Business Radio.