Most people who drive Towne Lake Parkway between I-575 and Main Street have watched the dirt move at the corner of Woodstock Parkway for a year now. As of late September 2026, the construction has a tenant list. The Woodstock Mill District is mostly a place for everyday errands: coffee, a dentist, a vet, a barber, a nail salon and a Publix. Its developer has been planning it since the start as a way to stretch downtown Woodstock west toward the interstate.
The evening part of the district is already open. It sits in the older strip center next door, which most longtime residents still call Towne Lake Plaza.
Two parcels, two different schedules
Connolly, the Atlanta-based developer, closed on the 11-acre site on September 25, 2025, and started construction right away. The district totals 118,000 square feet across 150 to 210 Towne Lake Parkway. About 90,000 square feet of that is new retail, including the grocery store. The rest is the 28,000-square-foot strip center Connolly bought in 2021, which is being renovated so it matches the new buildings and will carry the Mill District name.
That split explains why the district feels half-finished and half-established at the same time. Here is where every named business stands as of early October 2026.
| Business | Where | What it is | Status, October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publix | New construction | Anchor grocery store | Part of the spring 2027 district opening |
| Sydel's Coffee | New construction | Independent coffee from Woodstock residents, with pastries and crepes | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Three Dollar Café | New construction | Sports bar known for wings and drafts | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Super Chix Chicken & Custard | New construction | Fast casual, nearly 50 locations in 10 states | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Club Pilates | New construction | Pilates studio | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| PetFolk | New construction | Vet clinic, primary and urgent care | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| E's Barber Shop | New construction | Barber with six metro Atlanta locations | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Dentists at Woodstock Mill | New construction | General dentistry, part of PDS Health | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Allure Nail Bar | New construction | Full-service nail salon | Expected to start moving in this fall |
| Tin Drum Asian Kitchen & Boba Tea Bar | Renovated plaza | Asian kitchen and boba | Signed, no opening timeline yet |
| barre3 | Renovated plaza | Barre studio | Signed, no opening timeline yet |
| The Blue Ghost Arcade | Renovated plaza | Arcade and console gaming | Open |
| Maxwell's Cigar Bar | Renovated plaza | Cigar shop with beer and wine | Open |
| Dive Georgia | Renovated plaza | Scuba shop and training | Open |
Look at the new-construction rows. Eight of the nine are places you would visit on a weekday between work and dinner. Three Dollar Café is the only one in that group built around evenings. Connolly says the district was 79 percent leased in September 2026, months before construction wraps, with nine spaces still open.
The grocery store sets the pattern
Connolly's own explanation for the Publix is about where it sits. David Connolly said in the original announcement that the store "will fill a void in the market, delivering a much-desired grocery retailer on the east side of I-575 within walking distance to Main Street."
The walking-distance part is backed by details on the ground. The developer puts the site four minutes on foot from Main Street. A 10-foot-wide sidewalk that is part of Woodstock's Greenprints Trail System runs along the property and connects Main Street to the Old Rope Mill Trail. For anyone already on that path, the Mill District's errands sit on a route they use anyway.
The size of the store is reported slightly differently. Urbanize Atlanta lists 48,000 square feet, while Connolly's September 25 announcement gives 46,791. Either way, it is a full-size supermarket, and it shapes the rest of the site. The plans call for six freestanding buildings of one or two stories, from 3,500 to 13,750 square feet, with room for patios. Three restaurant spaces will face a planned traffic circle. Connolly's October 2025 announcement also described a custom sculpture on the eastern side of that circle.
One piece is still open. A freestanding corner building had no tenant as of September, and Connolly is marketing it to a local chef-driven restaurant. Whoever signs there will decide whether the new half gets a reason to stay past dinnertime.
Already open next door, mostly after dark
The renovated plaza has been holding the evening hours all along. The three businesses that were there before the redevelopment cater to people who stay out late.
The Blue Ghost Arcade. Arcade machines and pinball share space with PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X stations. An $18 day pass covers free play, unlimited same-day re-entry and popcorn, and the arcade also sells a $70 monthly pass. Posted hours run 1 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday. Its events calendar includes Dungeons & Dragons nights, trivia and Bingo Karaoke.
Maxwell's Cigar Bar. A cigar shop that serves beer and wine, sells accessories and pipe tobacco, and books live entertainment on weekends. It stays open until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. On the first weekend of October, the Sweet and Salty Blues Band and Six Strings South each played 8 to 11 p.m. sets.
Dive Georgia. Sells, rents and repairs scuba equipment and runs open-water certification, Try Scuba sessions and scuba travel.
Tin Drum and barre3 will join them in the plaza. WhatNow reported on October 3 that neither has announced an opening timeline. It also reported that the Woodstock barre3 studio will be run by owner Tyler Peden. When both open, the plaza will have a morning workout studio and a casual lunch option to go with its evening tenants.
The road is changing with it
Towne Lake Parkway is also getting a separate public project of its own. The City of Woodstock's widening project covers the stretch between Woodstock Parkway and the Towne Lake Parkway/Mill Street roundabout. When finished, it includes:
- Two continuous eastbound lanes into the Mill Street roundabout, with the right lane as a dedicated exit onto Mill Street.
- Two westbound lanes that begin at the new shopping center entrance.
- A dedicated left-turn lane for the Waffle House and the Cherokee County Tax Commissioner's Office.
- A dedicated right-turn lane for westbound drivers turning onto Woodstock Parkway.
- Pedestrian crossing upgrades at the Woodstock Parkway intersection to connect new sidewalks.
The city says the work is coordinated with the Mill District and the Lyndee Lane extension. The contractor, Bartow Paving, has 365 days from a January 12, 2026 notice to proceed. That puts the contract window into January 2027, a few months before the district's spring opening. The project costs $1.5 million. The city page does not give a progress update, so the contract window is the schedule, not a confirmed finish date.
The traffic is the reason for the extra lanes. By Connolly's count, nearly 33,000 vehicles a day pass the site on Towne Lake Parkway. The developer's October 2025 announcement cited about 30,000. The Cherokee Tribune reported on September 26 that the district will have three ways in, from Towne Lake Parkway, Lyndee Lane and Sherwood Drive. Those side entrances mean a quick Publix run may not need the Parkway at all for people coming from the Lyndee Lane or Sherwood Drive side.
How the next six months are expected to unfold
The timeline has moved once, though less than it might look. In October 2025, Connolly expected to deliver spaces in phases through the second half of 2026. The September 2026 update separates two milestones. Tenants start moving in this fall, and the district opens to the public in spring 2027.
Several details are still unannounced. No source gives a separate opening date for Publix. Sydel's Coffee, Tin Drum and barre3 have not set opening dates, and Connolly has not named the Woodstock residents behind Sydel's. The corner restaurant building is still unleased. For now, the confirmed reasons to stop in are the arcade, the cigar bar and the dive shop in the renovated plaza.
When the Mill District opens, it will change what's around the corner for homes near Main Street and along Towne Lake Parkway. If you're wondering how a walkable Publix and new daily services could matter for your own street, Angel Kennedy is happy to talk through it with you. Let's Connect.
