If you have lived in Dunwoody for more than a few years, you know the rhythm of the Village used to be predictable. A steakhouse would arrive, a bakery would leave, the Fresh Market parking lot would stay full on Saturdays, and the calendar reset every April with Lemonade Days. Fall 2026 is not that year. Two shopping centers under two different landlords have started leasing in the same direction, a hospitality group keeps expanding one storefront at a time, and the civic calendar has quietly grown a second holiday anchor. The result is a walkable cluster that behaves more like a small downtown than a pair of strip centers.
This is a resident's map to what actually opened, what is about to, and which dates are worth putting on the fridge before Thanksgiving.
What actually opened, and what is landing next
The most visible shift is inside Dunwoody Village Parkway. {S}table Comfort Food {n} Cocktails, backed by DASH Hospitality Group, opened April 9 replacing Steak & Grace, which closed in January after less than a year in business. The menu leans Southern in a way the previous tenant did not, with starters like a Southern Lazy Susan cheese and charcuterie board, barbecue pulled pork dumplings, and Carolina crab dip, and entrees that include buttermilk fried chicken, Georgia mountain trout "pecandine," and twin whole-roasted quails served with cornbread dressing. Hours run Tuesday through Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m., at 1317 Dunwoody Village Pkwy.
{S}table is one piece of a bigger pattern. DASH founder David Abes now operates a small constellation inside the Village. Abes also owns Bar{n} Booze and Bites, Morty's Meat Supply, Message In a Bottle, and Good Vibes Ice Cream. The next move is next door. The Morty's expansion into the old dentist office is set to open, and will include a stage for weekly karaoke and dueling piano shows. A live-entertainment room inside a suburban strip center is not a small change. It gives the block a second reason to be open past 9 p.m.
Two miles up Chamblee Dunwoody Road, a different landlord is running a parallel play. Since acquiring The Shops of Dunwoody in March 2025, Asana Partners has refreshed branding and added new signage, and its broader merchandising strategy is focused on attracting more high-quality retailers and restaurants to the neighborhood. The Shops of Dunwoody sits about two miles north of Perimeter Mall on Chamblee Dunwoody Road in the heart of Dunwoody Village. This summer the leasing broke through. Here is what is coming through fall:
| New tenant | Category | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Beyond Juicery + Eatery | Juices, smoothies, salads, wraps | Summer–fall 2026 |
| Tenku Sushi | Contemporary Japanese | Summer–fall 2026 |
| Jetset Pilates | Reformer studio | Summer–fall 2026 |
| Sweat440 | 40-minute HIIT classes | Summer–fall 2026 |
The four tenants are Beyond Juicery + Eatery, Jetset Pilates, Tenku Sushi, and Sweat440, and they are expected to open through the summer and fall of 2026.
Perimeter Village is also filling in. Patrones Authentic Mexican Cuisine is slated to open at 4705 C Ashford Dunwoody Road in a roughly 5,000 square foot space most recently occupied by Kiskeya Pizza, with plans to be open by late March. If you were counting sit-down Mexican options within a five-minute drive of the Village last year, that number has changed.
Two landlords, one direction
Here is the piece a casual observer would miss. Dunwoody Village Parkway and The Shops of Dunwoody are not the same real estate. Dunwoody Village Parkway sits under Regency Centers, the landlord for the DASH restaurants. The Shops sit under Asana Partners. Two separate ownerships, two separate leasing teams, and yet both are betting on the same tenant profile: a mix of chef-driven food, boutique fitness, and daytime uses that pull residents on foot rather than pushing them toward Perimeter Mall.
JLL Vice President Allie Spangler, who leads the leasing at The Shops with 10Twelve on behalf of Asana, described the center as a "true neighborhood destination," pointing to its walkable setting and visibility along a key local corridor. The DASH side of the story reads similarly. Abes told Rough Draft that he had been offered spaces in Buckhead and Midtown, but that Dunwoody is his home and that he wants his restaurants to be gathering spots for the community.
For residents, the practical read is simple. The next twelve months of new signage will not be spread across Ashford Dunwoody, Mount Vernon, and Chamblee Dunwoody at random. It is concentrating inside a mile of parkway. Errands that used to require two stops and a car move are compressing.
The fall calendar, mapped to walking distance
Openings are only half of the season. The civic calendar has thickened enough that most weekends between Labor Day and Thanksgiving already have an anchor.
| Date or window | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 6:30 p.m. | Gotta Sing Broadway sing-along | MJCCA, 5342 Tilly Mill Rd |
| Aug 23, 4 p.m. | The Velvet Hour: Sinatra, Swing, and Standards | MJCCA |
| Fall 2026 | Harlan Coben on "Plot Twist" | MJCCA |
| Third Thursdays through October | Food Truck Thursdays | Brook Run Park |
| Ongoing spring–summer | Groovin' on the Green concert series | Brook Run Park Amphitheater |
| October | Truck or Treat | Brook Run Park |
| Nov 22, 3–7 p.m. | Village Holiday Celebration & Lantern Parade | Dunwoody Village area including Perimeter Center and Ace Hardware |
The MJCCA slate is worth pausing on. The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta announced its fall 2026 Arts & Authors season featuring comedy, cabaret, Broadway tributes and family programming, and Arts & Authors director Pam Morton framed the season around the belief that live performances connect people across generations and backgrounds. The season starts Aug. 16 with "Gotta Sing Broadway: A Musical Theater Sing-Along Party," continues Aug. 23 with "The Velvet Hour: Sinatra, Swing, and Standards," and features author Harlan Coben discussing his new book "Plot Twist."
The Nov. 22 date is the newer entry that most residents have not put on the calendar yet. Create Dunwoody hosts a Village Holiday Celebration and Lantern Parade with performances, crafts and games, carolers, Santa letter writing, and more spread throughout the Village area including Perimeter Center and Ace Hardware. A lantern parade routed through the same parkway where {S}table and the Morty's expansion sit is not an accident. It is programming built to move foot traffic across the exact block the two landlords are leasing.
Older anchors still hold. The Dunwoody Preservation Trust's five-day festival, the free Brook Run Park Amphitheater concert series, the Callanwolde Concert Band's Broadway night, the Halloween celebration with Dunwoody Parks & Rec and Dunwoody Police, and the Nov. 11 event honoring those who have served all continue this year.
A resident's shortcut for October and November
If you want the shortest useful version of this post, it is this list.
- Save the Saturday of the Nov. 22 lantern parade for after the tree goes up but before Thanksgiving travel.
- Try {S}table on a weeknight before the holidays, when the Village dining room is calmer than the weekend crush at Marlow's Tavern or Novo Cucina next door.
- Watch the Morty's expansion opening date. A karaoke stage inside the Village will change the after-dinner options for parents whose kids are old enough to be left at home.
- Book Jetset Pilates or Sweat440 in the first two weeks if you want a class time that sticks. Reformer schedules at new studios harden fast.
- Pick one MJCCA night out of the fall lineup. The Arts & Authors season is the closest thing Dunwoody has to a fall arts subscription.
- Keep Thursday nights flexible through October for Food Truck Thursdays at Brook Run before the season closes.
What this adds up to for the neighborhood
Roundups of new restaurants usually read like weather reports. This one is different because the two landlords doing the leasing are not competing for the same tenants. They are stacking complementary ones inside a mile of each other, and the civic programming is following. When Create Dunwoody routes a lantern parade through the parkway, when the DHA books Food Truck Thursdays at Brook Run, when the MJCCA sells out a Broadway night on Tilly Mill, the effect is cumulative. A resident who wanted to eat, work out, and hear live music within a fifteen-minute walk could not quite pull it off in 2023. By the end of this fall, they will.
That has quiet consequences for how the neighborhood feels on a Saturday, and eventually for how homes here are perceived by buyers from outside the market. For now, the more useful thing to do is enjoy it. If you want a longer look at the neighborhoods feeding into this walkable core, our Dunwoody neighborhood guide and our post on finding the right Dunwoody neighborhood for your family are good next reads.
When you are ready to talk about how your address fits into what the Village is becoming, Bobbie Schmitt is here to help. Request a Custom Marketing Plan and let's map the next chapter of your home together.
