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COMMUNITY
State Farm office complex designed to
house up to 10,000 employees
BY ELLENELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
Dunwoody will pay
interest on tax
refunds
BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
Dunwoody city officials have decided to pay in
terest on property taxes wrongly collected from
homeowners over the past three years.
City Council voted July 13 to add 1 percent per
month in interest to the amounts now being re
funded to taxpayers. The residents were taxed at too
high a rate after city officials failed to properly notify
DeKalb County of a tax exemption during the years
2012, 2013 and 2014.
About $ 150,000 in refunds will be sent to owners
of about 2,748 residential parcels, based on an initial
analysis of the Dunwoody residential tax records for
the three-year period, the city said July 8.
Refunds will be as low as 11 cents and as high as
$1,000.
Finance Director Chris Pike said July 13 the mis
take occurred because the city did not have a staff per
son designated to report the information to DeKalb.
He said he will make this his priority now and work
to be more proactive as opposed to reactive.
“I don’t think there was a designated go-to person
to make sure that legislation was tracked as closely,”
Pike said. “We took more of a reactive point; when
something came to our attention that affected us, we
reacted.”
State Farms huge office complex under construction
on Hammond Drive is being designed to house up to
10,000 employees, while minimizing its effect on sur
rounding streets and providing new public spaces, the
developer says.
KDC Realty Regional Vice President Alex Chambers
said the Texas-based company is building a “multi-func
tional hub” with three buildings for the new State Farm
facility.
Dunwoody Homeowners Association board mem
ber Jim Redovian called it a “mega-project.” Chambers
joked that it wasn’t State Farm’s description.
The project’s design will allow employees to stay in
the same place when they are promoted within the com
pany, he said. Similar corporate complexes are being
built in Phoenix and Dallas.
Chambers told the Dunwoody Homeowners Asso
ciation July 12 they spent a lot of time considering traf
fic, and the 10-million-square-foot complex will make
it much easier to use MARTA because one of the three
buildings will connect directly to the Dunwoody tran
sit station.
“We’re making it so easy for people to use MARTA,”
Chambers said.
The first building will be 600,000 square feet and in
clude a three-level connector with a walkway that will
keep employees from having to cross the street at the
corner, Chambers said.
Use of multiple entrances and exits from parking
decks should make it easier for drivers to avoid left turns
that would back up traffic, Chambers said. He also said
he believes the overpass above 1-285 will get more use
now.
The company broke ground for its regional head
quarters in Atlanta at Hammond Drive and Perimeter
Center West in May 2014. By May 2016, the construc
tion will start to take shape, Chambers said. “It will start
to look like a building,” he said.
State Farm no longer plans to build a hotel at the site,
Chambers said. The company is working on a zoning
change to allow office space in areas now zoned for res
idential use, he said. Dunwoody City Council is sched
uled to hold a public hearing on the change on July 27.
“It’s zoned for 2 million square feet of residential and
we’re going to change it to office,” he told members of
the DHA board. “That should make most of you hap-
>5
py-
An open area in the middle of the complex will not
only be used by State Farm, but also as a public amenity
where programming could include musical performanc
es or flea markets, Chamber said. State Farm is also plan
ning a multi-use path for bikes and pedestrians to get
through the site, he said.
The project’s biggest hold-up involves an “east-west
connector” road that State Farm plans to build along
the Fulton and DeKalb County line.
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Dunwoody Government Calendar
The Dunwoody City Council usually meets the second and fourth
Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at Dunwoody City Hall located at 41
Perimeter Center East Suite No. 103.
For a complete and up to date schedule of Dunwoody City meetings,
visit http://www.dunwoodyga.gov/Residents/Calendar.aspx
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2 | JULY24— AUG.6,2015 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
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