If you remember the church parking lot off Sandy Springs Circle, picture pulling into that same block for coffee or taking the kids for ice cream. That’s a little easier to imagine now that Hillcrest has named its first two shops. Salted Melon, an all-day café, and Chastain Creamery, an ice cream shop with a Buckhead location, are headed to the former Sandy Springs United Methodist Church property.
Developers Third & Urban and Trammell Crow announced the tenants on Oct. 27 and are targeting summer 2027 for Hillcrest to open. The two shops give neighbors a first look at what they’ll be able to do on a block that’s been behind construction fences. And if you used to park in the church lot, there’s another detail worth knowing. The new garage will have 111 spaces set aside for public use.
A place to stop and stay awhile
Salted Melon is the kind of café where you could grab coffee in the morning or meet someone for lunch over a sandwich, salad or bowl. The Charlotte-based café opened in Buckhead in February, and Hillcrest is slated to be its second metro Atlanta location. Founder Thomas Coker said the room for patios and the city’s plans for a more walkable downtown helped draw him to the site.
Chastain Creamery is coming over from West Wieuca Road, where it opened its first shop at the start of the year. It offers more than 50 handcrafted flavors, including options made without dairy or without added sugar. With the shops planned around a green plaza, it’s easy to picture getting a scoop and finding a spot to sit for a few minutes.
The people moving into Hillcrest’s 362 apartments and 30 rental townhomes will have those stops close to home. The two shops are the first announcements for more than 19,000 square feet of planned retail, so there’s room for other reasons to drop by..
What happened to the church parking?
Sandy Springs had access to 105 spaces in the church lot. When the church sold the property to fund improvements, that agreement ended. The city negotiated for 111 public spaces in Hillcrest’s garage behind the shops, where it will collect parking revenue and can set rates for events like
The city capped its investment in parking and nearby infrastructure at $4.88 million. Under a separate 10-year tax break, the developer will pass its annual property tax savings to the city until that investment is repaid. Payments begin in the first full property-tax year after the city issues a certificate of occupancy.
What you’ll see if you drive by now
By late October, the garage and several storefronts were already in place, and the five-story building along Mount Vernon Highway was beginning to rise. The developers’ October announcement pointed to summer 2027 for Hillcrest, with opening dates for the café and ice cream shop still to come.
My Take
The coffee and ice cream are what caught my eye. The parking agreement is what made me think about how the rest of us might use the block. For years, people could park on the church property when they had somewhere to be downtown. Now there’ll be a reason to make the block itself part of the trip. Developer partner Hank Farmer says the team is talking with several more tenants. I’m curious what comes next and what might turn a quick stop for coffee into an afternoon on Sandy Springs Circle.
What kind of shop would give you a reason to visit Hillcrest regularly?
