North Point's Trail Arrives Before Any Arena Does

What will actually change near North Point Mall in the next year?

Since the late-night vote in August, much of the public discussion has been about a 20,000-seat hockey arena. On the ground, the first change will be a boardwalk and plaza at North Point Parkway and Encore Parkway. That is a trail connection, and its schedule has nothing to do with the National Hockey League. Most of the trail work planned around North Point already has its own funding and its own calendar. Only a small part of the plan depends on a league decision.

A zoning approval with a condition attached

Alpharetta City Council approved the North Point Sports & Entertainment District 4–3. Mayor Jim Gilvin and council members Dan Merkel, Kirk Driskell and John Hipes voted yes. Katie Reeves, Douglas DeRito and Fergal Brady voted no. The meeting on Aug. 24 ran past midnight, and the decision came just after 1 a.m. Tuesday.

The council approved a master-plan amendment, a rezoning from PSC to MU, a conditional use and variances for the 98.58-acre property. The plan on the agenda included the arena, a 4,000-seat music hall, a 2,000-seat practice and community rink, a cinema, office space, retail and restaurants, 1,385 rental homes, and public open space and trails. News reports gave different numbers for the hotels and conference space. The city's conditions settle it. The two hotels are capped at 650 rooms combined, and conference space is capped at 35,000 square feet.

The conditions also tie the plan to the NHL. The rental homes can only be built if the league awards North Point a team. The zoning goes back to its prior form if construction on the rental homes hasn't started, or the NHL hasn't approved a team at the site, by Aug. 24, 2031.

The developer has gone further than the zoning requires. Jamestown, chosen by mall owner New York Life to lead predevelopment, told the North Atlanta Star that the plan as approved will not go forward at all without a team:

"The approved proposal will not move forward without an NHL team." Frances Bohn, director of development and construction at Jamestown

If the NHL picks another site, Bohn said, Jamestown would revisit its design and bring a new plan back to Alpharetta for review.

What the mall looks like for now

Over the next year, the mall will look much as it does today. Bohn said the next phase is design, infrastructure planning, permitting and "non-invasive site work." She also said "the mall will be open and operating as usual while behind-the-scenes planning progresses." Construction is at least a year away, and no start date has been set. North Point Mall Fall Fest is still on for Oct. 17, and Santa returns for the holidays.

The city's presentation said Dillard's and Von Maur would stay as anchors and that the North Point Mall carousel would become part of the new plan.

That means the arena district is waiting on a league decision, and the league's timeline is open-ended. On Sept. 22, the NHL Board of Governors heard an expansion update. Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league had received "strong expressions of interest" from groups in Atlanta and Arizona. He added, "We're not under any time constraint." The league's evaluation of Houston or Austin with The Friedkin Group is still underway, and the next formal expansion update to the board is expected in December.

The local picture also got more crowded in September. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN on Sept. 9 that a third Atlanta-area group, led by former NHL player Anson Carter, had split from the Alpharetta effort. That group had shown evidence of financing but had not chosen a site, and it was looking north of Atlanta. The AJC reported two days later that Carter had previously backed the North Point bid. North Point is also competing with The Gathering at South Forsyth, an arena-centered project planned a few miles north along Ga. 400.

The trail work that doesn't wait on hockey

A few hundred yards away, the city's trail plans are moving on a separate track with separate funding.

The Encore Greenway Park and Gateway, at North Point Parkway and Encore Parkway, is a partnership between the City of Alpharetta and the True North 400 community improvement district. It is designed as a direct link between the Alpha Loop and the Big Creek Greenway. Construction started in February 2025, with a groundbreaking in March 2025. True North 400's project page lists December 2026 as the completion date and $1,930,000 as the CID's investment.

The progress list is specific. Crews have installed helical piers for the boardwalk and built a platform to transfer wastewater between sewer lines. The most recent work items are grass, boardwalk handrails, plaza terraces and retaining walls, and the page includes construction photos labeled September 2026. Bridge beams, decking and conduit for future lighting are listed as the next steps. December is a target completion date. It is not an announced opening day, and the remaining work includes the bridge structure.

The Greenway at the other end of that link is already a major trail. In Alpharetta, the Big Creek Greenway runs about nine miles, with access points at Beaver Creek Park, Haynes Bridge Road, Kimball Bridge, Marconi Drive, Northpoint Park, Preston Ridge, Rock Mill Park and Union Hill Park.

The bigger project is the Alpha Link. On Aug. 17, a week before the arena vote, the council approved a $15.9 million design-build contract with Reeves Young. The contract covers about one mile of Alpha Loop trail from Encore Parkway to Morrison Lake at Haynes Bridge Road. It runs 18.5 months, which puts completion around early 2028. The trail will be 12 feet wide and lit, with a plaza at Encore Parkway, and it will run through property next to Georgia 400.

The funding shows why this segment doesn't depend on the arena. The Alpharetta-Milton Chronicle reported three sources:

Public works director Pete Sewczwicz said early estimates put the segment near $25 million. Phasing and a land swap with the Georgia Department of Transportation cut that by more than $9 million. Councilman Hipes recalled thinking the original price meant the segment "would be forever known as the missing link." About six miles of the Alpha Loop are now complete. Hipes said none had been finished when he joined the council in 2018.

The one stretch of trail that does wait on the NHL

Inside the mall property, the trail is tied to the arena. The council's conditions require an internal Alpha Loop segment. Certificates of occupancy for the remaining rental homes can't be issued until that trail, the arena superstructure and 350,000 square feet of office space are built.

City staff described the planned route. It would line up with an elevated connection from a planned MARTA express-lanes transit stop, run south beside a future stormwater park to North Point Parkway, and continue west to North Point Center East. From there, a further route along North Point Center East and Encore Parkway would reach the Encore gateway now under construction. Staff also named a North Point Green on the northwest side, about the size of Sandy Springs City Green, a separate two-acre green space on the southwest side, a three-acre event plaza and a possible 14-acre stormwater park created with neighboring property. They said the internal trail would have landscaped separation from traffic, and the district would include a bike-share station. In total, the conditions require at least 26.86 acres of open space: 21.24 acres of civic space and 5.62 acres of amenity space.

The city is building the parts of the trail network around the mall property on its own, with sales tax, bond and CID money. The plan leaves the stretch through the mall property to the private development. Both pieces are designed to meet at Encore Parkway.

The dates in order

If the arena moves forward, Jamestown expects it to open in phases over about a decade. The trail segments have contracts, funding and a completion date for the first piece, December 2026.

If you own property near the GA-400 corridor, or are thinking about buying there, it helps to look at the North Point timeline in two parts: the funded trail work and the arena decision. The TJS Team can help you sort through both and model what each could mean for a specific property, in English or Mandarin. Request a personalized market & investment consult.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.