"The community wanted this park," Brookhaven Mayor John Park said at the April 25 dedication of Woodley Plaza, as Rough Draft Atlanta reported. "The community wanted a standing restaurant. The community wanted extra parking. The community wanted extra green space. Dan had the vision to bring it all together."
Six months later, the city-owned green at Parkside on Dresden has gone through its first summer and is now in its first fall season. Most of that list is now open on the 1300 block of Dresden Drive, next door to Savi Provisions. The one piece still missing is the restaurant that would stand on its own. For anyone in Historic Brookhaven who treats Dresden as their walkable main street, that gap matters more than any opening this season.
The Mayor's List, Checked Against the Block
Atlanta developer Connolly broke ground on Parkside on Dresden in summer 2022 and declared the $70 million project complete this spring, according to Urbanize Atlanta. Here is where each item from the mayor's list stands as of late October 2026.
| What the community asked for | What is on Dresden now |
|---|---|
| A park | Woodley Plaza, a city-owned green with a stage and gathering areas |
| Extra green space | The plaza sits in the middle of the retail complex on a 4-acre site |
| Extra parking | A six-level deck for residents and visitors |
| A standing restaurant | A freestanding two-story space, still listed as available for lease |
The main building filled quickly. By April, all 28,000 square feet of its ground-floor retail had been claimed, which Urbanize called rare for a new building inside the Perimeter. The project also includes Solis Dresden Village, with 176 apartments and seven townhomes built by Terwilliger Pappas, and it is a walk from the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA station. Connolly CEO Timothy Connolly told Urbanize that putting a public park inside the project was meant to create "a built-in driver for foot traffic and community engagement."
Whether that works shows up first on Friday nights.
Friday Nights on the Plaza Stage
Live music on the Woodley Plaza stage is the plaza's one regular event this fall, and a business on the plaza pays for it. The Parkside on Dresden events calendar listed shows on October 2, 9 and 16, each sponsored by Confab Kitchen & Bar. The next listed show is Rob Jordan on Friday, November 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.
The two schedules don't quite agree, so check before you plan an evening around them. Confab's website describes live music on the plaza stage every Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. The October entries on the Parkside calendar showed a 6 to 7 p.m. window instead. On the calendar, Woodley Plaza is mapped to 1382 Dresden Drive.
The sponsorship explains the arrangement. A restaurant that faces the plaza pays for the music, and the music gives people a reason to stay on the block after dark. The tenants have also used the space around the plaza for other events. Brookhaven Dance held a Halloween sidewalk party outside its studio at Suite 1005 on October 23. Brookhaven Dance students also performed at the April dedication.
What Is Open Around the Plaza
Food and drink make up most of what is around the plaza. These four businesses list their Parkside addresses and current hours on their own sites:
- Confab Kitchen & Bar, Suite 1015. Dinner and weekend brunch, described as modern American with classic European influences. Reservations and kitchen hours are on its site.
- Café Vendôme, Suite 1013. French pastries, croissants, espresso, quiches, crêpes and tartines, open daily, per its Explore Brookhaven listing.
- Honeysuckle Gelato, Suite 1014. Gelato, sorbet, milkshakes, gelato sandwiches and cookies, with hours on its Brookhaven page. Honeysuckle was also among the 16 restaurants at Taste Brookhaven on October 1, Rough Draft reported.
- Greene's Fine Foods, Suite 1010. Chocolates, pecans, nuts, fudge and candy, with weekly hours on its stores page.
The rest of the lineup leans toward fitness and personal care. Urbanize's April roster included Stretch Lab, F45 Training Brookhaven, Balanced Aesthetics Medspa, Sugarcoat Beauty and MIRAE. Two names from that list have a different status now. El Valle, a planned contemporary Mexican restaurant with Mexican and Latin American wines and craft cocktails, is still labeled "coming soon" in the Parkside directory. Clean Juice was on the April roster but does not appear in the current directory.
Put the list together and the mornings and afternoons are well covered by pastry, coffee, gelato and chocolate. Evenings mostly depend on Confab until El Valle opens. That is part of why the empty restaurant pad matters so much.
The Neighbor the Plaza Is Named For
Dan Woodley is a real estate professional. In Rough Draft's account, he assembled, designed, developed and built the Dresden Drive corridor and other projects nearby, and that corridor was used to promote Brookhaven's incorporation as a city in 2013. Urbanize reported that development officials consider him the "pioneer of the Dresden Drive corridor."
A city release quoted by Rough Draft credited Woodley with turning the area "into a modern-day main street where people could live, dine, work, shop, and play within walking distance." Council Member Jennifer Owens called the plaza "a wonderful way to honor the impact of Mr. Woodley on such a staple area in Brookhaven." Council members John Funny and Madeline Simmons also attended the all-day celebration.
Woodley's own description of the idea fits the plaza closely. He told the crowd he wanted "connection, not isolation" when he was planning the Dresden Drive projects, and he said he still "drives by and checks on my baby." A street of storefronts lets people pass each other. A green with a stage, ringed by places to buy a coffee or a scoop of gelato, gives them a reason to stop.
The Jewel Box Still Waiting
Off the main building sits the freestanding two-story restaurant that Urbanize's April photo caption called a "jewel box" space. In April it was the only Parkside space still available. The current directory still lists it as available for lease, with 3,751 square feet plus a 1,079-square-foot rooftop patio, and names no tenant.
That is the "standing restaurant" from the mayor's list, and it is the one item not yet delivered. A rooftop patio above a public green would add another evening anchor next to Confab, beside a stage that already hosts music on Friday nights. Until a tenant signs, the plaza's evening life depends on one sponsor and one weekly event.
On the Calendar Through December
The Parkside calendar lists nothing on the plaza after the November 6 show. For the holidays, the City of Brookhaven's schedule covers several nearby parks:
- Tinsel Trail registration closes October 31. Explore Brookhaven and the city assign decorated trees to Blackburn Park 2, Skyland Park, Langford Park and the Peachtree Creek Greenway on the Police Department side. Trees go up November 16 through December 1, according to Explore Brookhaven.
- Paint the Park, Saturday, November 7, at Lynwood Park, 3360 Osborne Road. The event moved there from its October 4 date at Blackburn Park because of weather, per a city notice.
- Light Up Brookhaven, Thursday, December 3, 6 to 9 p.m. at Blackburn Park, 3493 Ashford Dunwoody Road.
- City Centre Santa, December 5, 12 and 19, 9 a.m. to noon at 4001 Peachtree Road NE.
- Santa Paws, Sunday, December 20, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Brookhaven Park, 4158 Peachtree Road, the closest of these to Historic Brookhaven, according to the city calendar.
To see any additions on Dresden itself, including holiday events on the Woodley Plaza stage, check the Parkside events page.
What gets built along Dresden, and what fills the spaces still open, shapes daily life in Historic Brookhaven and the value of homes within walking distance of it. If you want to talk through how a block like this one fits into your own plans, David Kaufman is glad to have that conversation. Get in Touch.
