Walk the Model Mile section of the Peachtree Creek Greenway on any weekday morning and you will pass joggers, a few dog walkers, someone on a cargo bike hauling groceries from the Saturday market. Lately you will also pass survey stakes near North Druid Hills Road and a fresh round of construction fencing that was not there in the spring. If you have wondered what all of that activity actually means, or noticed that a handful of restaurant spaces around town have changed hands in the same few months, the two things are connected. The money behind the trail is the same money explaining why certain corners of Brookhaven are getting attention right now and others are not.
The Federal Check That Just Landed
In May 2026, the Atlanta Regional Commission voted to award $13,593,489 in federal funding to complete Phase II of the Peachtree Creek Greenway. That is not a symbolic grant. It is the money that lets the city extend the existing trail from its current end point at North Druid Hills Road down to the Atlanta city limits, where it will eventually tie into Path 400, the Atlanta Beltline's Northeast Trail, and the South Fork Conservancy Trails.
Mayor John Park called the vote a turning point for the city:
"This is a transformative moment for Brookhaven. The PCG has always been about creating connections between our neighborhoods, our businesses, and our region. With this funding secured, we are turning that vision into reality."
The existing 1.27-mile "Model Mile," which runs from Briarwood Road behind REI to North Druid Hills Road near Corporate Boulevard, opened back on December 12, 2019, and set the standard the rest of the project has been chasing since. Phase II is the piece that finally gives that stretch somewhere to go.
Why a Private Developer Is Paying for Public Trail
Here is the detail that is easy to miss if you only read the funding headline. The same announcement noted that Phase II's advancement lines up with a recently approved $150 million private redevelopment along North Druid Hills Road, and that project includes an $8 million investment in Peachtree Creek Greenway infrastructure paid for by the developer, not the city. Add in the Northbend project, a proposed $600 million redevelopment set to replace Corporate Square along the greenway's first phase, and a pattern shows up: private capital is now treating trail access as something worth building around and paying into, not just a neighboring amenity to tolerate.
That is a different story than "the city got a grant for a bike path." It means the greenway has become collateral that private development leans on to justify its own scale, which is part of why construction near North Druid Hills Road has picked up pace this year while other corridors in Brookhaven have stayed quiet.
Not every phase is moving at the same speed, either. Phase III, the further extension south of the current corridor, is still working through alignment questions. The city council put $50,000 toward evaluating a third route option in January 2026 after a community meeting in September 2025 raised concerns about how residents would actually access the path from their own streets. One option under review would cross the North Fork Peachtree Creek near Barone Avenue. So the greenway is not one continuous project moving in lockstep. Phase II has money and a clear scope. Phase III is still being drawn.
The Bridge With Corporate Names on the Deed
The most recent milestone landed in mid-July. On July 14, 2026, DeKalb County, the City of Brookhaven, and Emory University announced an agreement establishing the financial framework for the Peachtree Creek Greenway Connector Bridge, moving it into final design and construction. The bridge matters because it is what physically links the greenway to Emory's campus, to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and to job centers that otherwise sit on the wrong side of the creek from the trail.
For anyone living nearby, the agreement specifically states that no residential property taxes will fund the design or construction of the connector bridge. The land itself came from private partners, too. Asbury Automotive Group donated the easements needed for the western bridge landing, and Emory University provided the eastern landing easement back in 2019, years before this agreement made the project financially real. DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson framed it as part of a broader trails push, calling it a connection to the county's growing trails and greenways network.
What's Opening While the Trail Gets Built
The restaurant scene has had its own quieter churn this year, mostly in existing storefronts rather than new construction.
| Opening | Detail | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Unkie's Pizza and Bar | Owners Richard Gazaway and Michael Colombo took over the former Greek Pizzeria & Gyros space at 3400 Clairmont Road, Suite A | Opened in phases, with a full bar and expanded patio slated for spring 2026 |
| C&S Seafood and Oyster Bar | Third metro Atlanta location, joining existing spots in Milton and Johns Creek, serving chargrilled oysters and lobster cobb salad | Recently opened |
| Beyond Juicery + Eatery | Third Georgia location for the fast-casual chain, run by franchise partners Ricky Burch and Ross Hare | Opened July 25, 2026 |
Gazaway, who grew up in nearby Chamblee and spent years as general manager at Vintage Pizzeria before starting Unkie's, told What Now Atlanta that staying inside the community mattered more than picking a flashier location. That instinct, backfilling an existing spot rather than chasing new construction, matches what is happening across most of the corridor right now. The big dollars are going into trail and bridge infrastructure. The retail and restaurant layer on top of it is mostly reshuffling existing square footage.
The Saturday Routine That Hasn't Moved
For all the construction fencing and funding announcements, the parts of Brookhaven that run on habit have stayed exactly where they were. The Brookhaven Farmers Market still sets up every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at 1375 Fernwood Circle NE, April through November, producer-only, with live music most weeks. It has been a fixture for well over a decade, long enough that most regulars do not think of it as something the city built so much as something the neighborhood just does. Blackburn Park's summer concert series fills the same role on warm evenings, pulling in the kind of low-key crowd that shows up with a blanket and does not care what is happening a mile away near North Druid Hills Road.
That contrast is the point. The Peachtree Creek Greenway money, the connector bridge agreement, the Northbend redevelopment dollars, all of it is reshaping one specific corridor through the city. The Saturday market and the park concerts are the parts of Brookhaven that stay put regardless of which phase of trail construction is underway that month. Knowing the difference between the two, what is actively being rebuilt and what has been steady for years, is a decent way to make sense of a city that looks, from a walk on the Model Mile, like it is changing faster than it actually is in most places.
If you are watching this corridor for reasons that go beyond a Saturday walk, whether that means an eye on North Druid Hills Road, Fernwood Circle, or another pocket of Brookhaven entirely, Wilson Property Partners pays attention to exactly this kind of local detail. Start a conversation about your neighborhood or home.
