2 min read April 2023 — Weare Gratwick, mayor pro tem of Peachtree Corners, spoke with Focus: about the young city’s bright future, with diverse housing, a budding Downtown, and commitments to green space for residents, not to mention an expanding tech park. “I see a lot of progress from the seeds we have planted in our 10 years and those seeds will continue to mature over the next 10,” he said.
Looking back on 2022, what highlights stick out for you?
Mayor Mason and City Council are proud of what the city accomplished in 2022. One of the biggest highlights is the expansion of Intuitive Surgical in Peachtree Corners. The company offers leading-edge medical technologies and is currently constructing its new east coast headquarters in the city. This expansion will benefit the city with over 1,200 new jobs and over $600 million in economic investment. Another big highlight was the purchase of the Forum Shopping Center by North American Properties. Their purchase comes with an aggressive redevelopment plan that will benefit the entire downtown area. North American Properties has experience with aging properties and redevelopment and The Forum will include residential space, more active gathering spaces, and a city market.
Along with the city’s expansion of the Town Center with additional amenities, we are turning our downtown into a destination for not only our locals but surrounding areas. We have prioritized building out our Downtown as a town center with green space and restaurants. We have also worked to connect our pedestrian bridge and our growing trail system, which when complete, will stretch to about 25 miles. Another highlight that comes to mind is the continued success of Curiosity Lab. We remain passionate about celebrating and growing on our technological past, and Curiosity Lab continues to expand with new companies, ideas, products, and services coming to set up shop in Peachtree Corners. It will continue to be an economic development tool for the future.
What would you say makes Peachtree Corners a modern city?
I must give credit to our leadership, our mayor and our City Manager Brian Johnson. Our peers in local government can tend to fall short today with large-scale political differences. Peachtree Corners has been successful in keeping partisan politics out of our leadership and instead keeping a local vision. Growth is about self-control, and Peachtree Corners is one piece of a bigger Metro Atlanta picture, but we control our own destiny and sense of place. That’s what makes us unique. Our county has 15 active cities creating their own unique destination. I like what they’re doing in other cities, but I love what we’re doing here. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Technology is being embraced here. The area of Peachtree Corners was founded in the late 1960s by Paul Duke, who recognized that the Atlanta area was losing a significant amount of engineering talent to jobs up North. Duke had the idea for the technology park we have today, which created a job-generating machine. That was the genesis of Peachtree Corners. The Hayes modem and color printer were invented here; embracing technology is part of our roots.
What do you hope stays the same about Peachtree Corners as it grows?
It will become denser and, as such, we will face affordable housing issues and lack of land for single-family homes. We must be very smart about addressing housing needs so we can feed jobs at the tech park and at Town Center. We also need to be smart about the amenities needed to support residents who move here while at the same time preserving our tree canopy and greenspace. We bought 227 acres along the river to preserve as a passive park and it has since become a great green space for the city. A private developer is also building out an older community with outdated buildings to be a space for the aging population who want to remain here. This new development will include single-family homes, townhomes, and assisted and independent living facilities.
What does the Atlanta metro area need to be successful down the road?
The expansion of public transit is our largest big-picture need and it’s a challenge for the entire region. Local leaders are working hard to address that need so we remain competitive as a region. We must provide ways for people to get around. In Peachtree Corners, we are doing our part by creating options for biking and walking. Education is also a major factor in success. Peachtree Corners continues to have excellent public and private school choices.
What are your priorities looking ahead?
We have to be smart about how we grow. Being at our 10-year mark, we are in the process of updating our comprehensive plan. We are getting residents’ input on housing to gauge where it should and shouldn’t go, its accessibility, and affordability. Being smart about redevelopment will be important as well. We have founded a Redevelopment Authority where residents with the right experience are looking at our older parts of town to determine how they can become a catalyst for developers to realize Peachtree Corners as a significant investment opportunity. Redevelopment activity in these areas will also help benefit the lowering of crime rates by re-envisioning amenities and adding playgrounds, amphitheaters, food trucks, and other places to gather.
What is your near-term outlook?
I see a lot of progress from the seeds we have planted in our 10 years and those seeds will continue to mature over the next 10. I predict growth in business relocations to our tech park, the redevelopment of current buildings to bring them up to date, and further success with Intuitive Surgical and their potential suppliers moving to the city. The Forum will also continue to adapt to a rapidly changing retail market. It will be interesting to see how our Town Center continues to evolve. Continuity is important and having a clear vision of the future will allow us to continue our success.
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