At North Point, the Park Has a Finish Date and the Arena Doesn't
"The mall, a great mall, I remember the day it opened. But it's sort of run its course." Alpharetta City Administrator Chris Lagerbloom said that to Channel 2 before the city council vote on North Point Mall in August, as Rough Draft Atlanta reported. He also said the site was ready for redevelopment "whether it's this opportunity or a different opportunity."
Nearly two months later, the 20,000-seat hockey arena still gets most of the attention, and it has the least certain timing of anything at North Point. The approved plan depends on a league decision that the league says it isn't in a hurry to make. The park under construction beside the mall has a December completion target. By the end of this year, the parts of North Point most likely to look different are a new park and a trail connection, not the mall.
The council approved the plan 4-3 just after 1 a.m. on the Tuesday following its Aug. 24 meeting, after hours of debate and public comment, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. Appen Media's account lists what passed: a master plan amendment, a rezoning, a conditional use permit and variances for a mixed-use district proposed by property owner New York Life and developer Jamestown LP, the firm behind Ponce City Market.
Here's what the approved concept includes, according to Appen and the Awesome Alpharetta development page:
The vote split the council down the middle. Mayor Jim Gilvin and council members Dan Merkel, Kirk Driskell and John Hipes voted yes. Hipes told Appen, "What we are left with is an opportunity." Katie Reeves, Douglas DeRito and Fergal Brady voted no. Reeves said, "Twenty-story buildings seem so out of place."
The approval comes with a condition tied to hockey. Appen reported that the plan makes construction of the for-rent homes contingent on Alpharetta landing a team. Rough Draft, drawing on WSB-TV, described the condition as a franchise award before anyone can occupy those apartments. Under either reading, the housing at the center of the plan is tied to a decision that rests with the NHL's board of governors, not with Alpharetta City Hall.
That decision hasn't come. After the NHL board of governors met on Sept. 22, Commissioner Gary Bettman said the board was keeping a "wait-and-see attitude," held no vote on expansion and wasn't in a formal expansion round, as ESPN reported. Bettman confirmed that three ownership groups in the Atlanta area had contacted the league. He described their outreach as "unsolicited expressions of interest" and said the league isn't working against any deadline. He added that approving expansion would require three-quarters of the governors to be comfortable with it, "and that's not something you do overnight."
North Point is also competing for that team. The Gathering at South Forsyth is a separate mixed-use proposal pursuing the same franchise. Atlanta News First reported that its developer planned to start site work on Sept. 7, with about five months of grading and a vertical construction start targeted for summer 2027. That's a developer's construction schedule, not a sign of where the league stands.
Taken together, the August approval made North Point eligible for the arena plan, not committed to it.
Since nothing is decided, North Point Mall is still operating as a mall. The redevelopment plan calls for tearing down most of the building, and Jamestown is managing the property in the meantime, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Back in April, the AJC visited the mall and found that it didn't look like a dying mall. North Point was still drawing about 3.3 million shoppers a year and kept up "a steady calendar of events, promotions and new-store openings." The paper also wrote that few people deny the mall is past its prime. The mall's directory still lists Macy's, JCPenney, Dillard's and Von Maur as anchors, along with AMC North Point 12, H&M, Sephora and The Cheesecake Factory.
The mall's events calendar runs well past the arena vote. These are the dates still ahead on it as of late October:
The operator is still booking a Santa season, so the Center Court photo setup is on the calendar again this year.
Near the mall, one project has a finish date. Construction on Encore Greenway Park and the Encore Gateway, a city partnership with the business group True North 400, started in February 2025. CBS Atlanta reported that True North 400 expects to finish it in December 2026. True North 400 is also putting $977,411 toward a new plaza at Fanfare Way and Encore Parkway.
The gateway matters because of the trail that will end there. In August, the council approved a $15.99 million design-build contract for the Alpha Link. The trail will run alongside GA 400 from the Alpha Loop near Morrison Lake, past the Lakeview development, to the Big Creek Greenway at the new Encore Gateway near Encore Parkway and North Point Parkway. Appen Media described the new section as about one mile long. The trail closes the gap between Alpharetta's 6 miles of Alpha Loop and more than 12 miles of Greenway. It's being paid for with TSPLOST II funds, the city's parks bond and impact fees.
| Project near North Point | Where it stands | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Encore Greenway Park and Gateway | Under construction since February 2025 | Completion scheduled for December 2026, per True North 400 |
| Plaza at Fanfare Way and Encore Parkway | True North 400 contributing $977,411 | Part of the Encore park partnership |
| Alpha Link trail | $15.99 million contract approved in August | About 18.5 months of construction; no start date announced |
| North Point arena district | Rezoning and permits approved Aug. 24 | Depends on an NHL award; the league has set no deadline |
The park is due first, and the trail contract is already approved. If the arena never comes, the Encore Gateway will still connect the North Point area to the Greenway, and the Alpha Link will still connect it to the Alpha Loop and, through it, downtown. Building one of the city's main trail connections at the mall's edge means North Point becomes more reachable on foot or by bike whatever happens to the mall itself.
The city has also approved a bike-share program run by Tandem Mobility, with 25 bikes at five self-service stations, according to WSB-TV. Appen's account put one dock at North Point Park, with the first hour free. WSB's list of stations differs from Appen's, so check the city's current station map before you count on a bike at a particular spot.
This fall's calendar already uses the trail network that the Alpha Link is meant to finish. The Alpharetta Women's Half Marathon and 5K on Sunday, Nov. 1, runs along the Big Creek Greenway and through Rock Mill Park and finishes at Avalon. Race hours are 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. If you use the Greenway on weekend mornings, plan around that window.
Nov. 21 also has events in two parts of town. While the parade and Santa photos open at North Point, the Holiday Artists Market runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Alpharetta Arts Center, 238 Canton St., and Alpharetta Now lists it as free. The next afternoon, the Lighting of Avalon runs from 2 to 7:30 p.m. That weekend covers the old mall, the downtown arts center and the mixed-use development that, in Appen's words, eclipsed North Point. The Alpha Link is being built to close the trail gap between the North Point side of that map and the Alpha Loop.
For now, the North Point area has a mall still booking Santa, a park due in December and a $15.99 million trail contract with an 18.5-month build. The arena, the music hall and the 20-story tower are waiting on a vote the NHL hasn't scheduled.
If you own a home near North Point and want to understand how the Encore Gateway, the Alpha Link and an open-ended arena plan might shape how buyers see your street, Darron O'Bonnon can walk you through it in a design-forward market consultation that pairs a home valuation with a staging plan. More neighborhood coverage is on our Alpharetta page.
Whether you're in the research phase at the beginning of your real estate search or know exactly what you're looking for, you'll benefit from having a real estate professional.