Dunwoody's Next Townhomes Are Replacing Office Parks, and They Come With House Rules

Between Aug. 24 and Sept. 28, 2026, Dunwoody approved up to 155 for-sale townhomes on two former office sites along Ashford Dunwoody Road. In the same votes, the City Council set how many of those homes can be rented, how many have to be built so an elevator can go in later, and, at one site, who pays to keep up the stormwater ponds. In both projects, no more than one home in ten may be a rental. At the Lennar site, the conditions require the HOA covenants to reflect that limit. At Ashwood Grove, city staff say the HOA will enforce it.

Most coverage of Dunwoody's housing still treats it as a market of established swim-and-tennis subdivisions. The new for-sale supply near Perimeter Center is different. It is attached housing on land that used to hold offices and parking lots, and much of what owning one of these homes will feel like was settled in public hearings in August and September 2026.

Two approvals, one set of conditions

The two projects differ in size and zoning path, but the council attached nearly the same requirements to each.

The city staff memo for the Lennar rezoning says that at the Sept. 14 public hearing, the council asked for what it called "standard conditions related to stormwater maintenance, rental caps, and senior-friendly units." Nobody spoke for or against the project at that hearing, or at the Planning Commission hearing on Aug. 11, where the commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval. Because no one objected, the council shaped these communities through its own conditions.

The rental cap is a small number with a long reach

A 10% cap on 122 homes allows 12 rentals. On 33 homes, it allows about three. The Lennar conditions require the HOA covenants to state the limit, require the HOA to keep records of which units are rented, and require those records to reach the City of Dunwoody within 14 days of a request.

The city's goal is in the Ashwood staff memo, which says the project "would introduce additional owner-occupied housing stock into the Perimeter market." For a buyer, the practical effect comes later. Picture someone who buys in 2028, takes a job out of state in 2031, and wants to lease the home instead of selling it. Whether they can depends on how many rental slots are already taken, and in a 33-home community that might be three. A cap like this also shapes who the eventual resale buyers are, because the people bidding will mostly be planning to live there.

At Ashwood Grove, the sources differ on how much detail they give. The staff memo states 10%, or 12 units. Rough Draft Atlanta's report on the vote says a rental cap was among the items the applicant added but doesn't give a percentage. Anyone weighing a purchase there should read the recorded covenants once they exist rather than rely on the staff memo figure.

Elevator-ready homes are the scarcest product in either plan

The second condition matters most to downsizers, and to adult children helping a parent plan a move. The Lennar approval defines an "elevator-ready" unit as one "designed and built to accommodate the future installation of an elevator," and gives stacked closets as an example. At least four of the 33 homes must be built this way, and two of them must be done by the time half the community is built.

That works out to roughly one home in eight at the Lennar site, and one in ten at Ashwood Grove, where the developer set aside 12 units in four blocks of three after hearing from the council and the public, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. In a townhome, the stairs are usually the reason a buyer in their 60s or 70s walks away. A unit where an elevator can be added later stays livable for the long run in a way the others may not. Those few units are the closest thing either project has to aging-in-place housing, and there are far fewer of them than of any other type.

The council disagreed about how far to go. Citizen Portal's account of the Sept. 28 meeting reports that members "clashed over whether elevator readiness should apply to all units or a minimum number" before the 5-1 vote. In August, Council Member John Heneghan voted against Ashwood Grove. As Rough Draft Atlanta reported, he said the project did nothing to advance the city's comprehensive plan goal of housing residents who want to age in place, and that Planned Development was the wrong zoning category for townhomes.

"This use of the Planned Development zoning with no variances to make it easier on the applicant is deeply inappropriate because there are more appropriate zoning classifications that this project should be classified [under]."

Council Member John Heneghan, as quoted by Rough Draft Atlanta

For a buyer who is downsizing, the takeaway is supply. If the elevator-ready layout is the reason to buy, it is a limited allocation inside a larger release, and timing matters.

Ponds, streets and other things the HOA inherits

The other conditions are less obvious, but each one becomes either an obligation for the homeowners or a feature of daily life.

1. Stormwater. At the Lennar site, maintaining the stormwater ponds and stormwater infrastructure is "the responsibility of the Homeowner's Association." That makes pond upkeep part of what the HOA budget has to cover over the life of the community. The retaining wall that holds the existing pond must be textured block or faced with cultured stone or brick.
2. Open streets. In both communities, the interior streets are privately maintained but open to the public, and gates are not allowed. Owners pay to maintain streets that anyone can use.
3. Shared amenities. At Ashwood Grove, staff describe a new walking path around the existing stormwater pond, which will be improved and re-landscaped "as a usable amenity for the surrounding community." The council also required that any reptiles or amphibians be removed responsibly before the pond is renovated, and that natural grass be used instead of turf in certain areas.
4. Street-level connections. The Lennar approval requires installing the Ashford Dunwoody Trail, closing the slip lane at Ashford Dunwoody Road and Ashford Center Parkway, building an onramp from the Ashford Center Parkway bike lane to the Ashford Dunwoody Path, and recording an easement for a future pedestrian and bike connection before any home receives a certificate of occupancy.

All of these rules point the same way. The city is using office sites to add owner-occupied, walkable homes that connect to the trail network. Ashwood's staff memo places the site in the Transition zone of the Perimeter Character Area, where the plan calls for a "drop in intensity" from the core and a "preference toward townhouses and missing middle types," and notes that the site is walkable to several grocery stores.

Why office land, and why the timeline matters

Ashwood's staff memo describes the project as transitioning "a 'zombie' office space into an attractive housing community." These two approvals are not the only ones. A February 2026 development update in the North Atlanta Star describes an office-to-residential rezoning at 64 and 66 Perimeter Center East, approved in 2025, that includes condos, townhomes and age-restricted rentals. In October, the council also adopted the Georgetown Small Area Plan to guide redevelopment in Georgetown and nearby neighborhoods, Appen Media reported.

None of these homes is available yet. Asked by the council about timing, the Ashwood Grove developers estimated homes might be ready a year from this fall, or by the first quarter of 2028. Buyers who want the new product will be waiting through at least one more resale season. The market they wait in is mixed. In September 2026, the Atlanta REALTORS® market brief reported a median sale price of $416,000 across its 11-county metro area, with 4.9 months of supply and an average of 30 days on market. The Georgia MLS snapshot for DeKalb County showed a residential median of $360,000 and 2,732 active listings that same month. Both figures include all property types across much larger areas than Dunwoody, and neither shows what a Perimeter townhome will sell for. They do show that supply is no longer extremely tight, which leaves a buyer room to compare an existing Dunwoody home today with one of these new units later.

Quick answers

Are these homes for sale or for rent? For sale. City staff describe both Ashwood Grove and the Lennar project as for-sale townhomes, and each carries a 10% rental limit.

Does "elevator-ready" mean an elevator comes with the home? No. Under the Lennar condition, the home is designed and built so an elevator can be installed later, for example with stacked closets.

Will the communities be gated? No. Both approvals keep the private interior streets open to the public and prohibit gates.

This post reports on zoning conditions and HOA requirements as the city published them. It is general information, not legal or financial advice, so please confirm how any covenant or rental limit applies to you with a qualified attorney or financial professional.

If an elevator-ready townhome in Dunwoody may fit your plans, or you're deciding whether to sell a longtime home now or wait for this new supply, the Lindsay Levin Team can help you plan the timing, check the details that matter in an HOA's documents, and estimate what your current home would bring in today's market. Start with a free home valuation.