Medley Johns Creek Fall 2026: What Opens October 29

For nearly two decades, Johns Creek has been the North Atlanta suburb without a there there. Great schools, quiet cul-de-sacs, a handful of strip centers along State Bridge and Medlock Bridge, and a long drive to Avalon or Halcyon when you wanted somewhere to walk around after dinner. That changes this fall. The city is not simply opening a new shopping district. It is finishing the last piece of a three-part sequence that has been unfolding in public view since 2024, and the order those pieces arrived in tells you more about what living here will feel like next year than any tenant list can.

Park first, connection second, storefronts third

Most suburbs build the retail and hope people show up. Johns Creek inverted that. What's happening here isn't just "a new development." It's a sequencing strategy. The City first created a special zoning framework for Town Center, allowing a different kind of density and design than traditional office park development. Then it prioritized public investments, parks, walkways, and connections, before expecting private projects to fill in around them. Instead of building retail first and hoping people show up, the City is building gathering space first and expecting business to follow.

That means the piece that opened first, back in May, was not a restaurant or a store. It was a park.

Phase one, already open: The Boardwalk at Town Center

The Boardwalk, Johns Creek's years-in-the-making gathering space, debuted May 8 behind City Hall at 11360 Lakefield Drive. City officials describe it as an anchor for the walkable Town Center district and an event venue for families. If you have driven past City Hall lately and wondered what the elevated walkway wrapping the pond actually is, that is it.

The specs are worth knowing because they explain why concerts here feel different from what you get at Newtown Park:

• A 20-acre property adjacent to City Hall, bordered by Medlock Bridge Road between Johns Creek Parkway and East Johns Crossing, with a 15-foot wide elevated trail, bandshell and amphitheater, terraced seating, pond overlooks, and pedestrian plazas.
• Capacity for 4,000 people, artificial turf, state-of-the-art sound equipment, and a layout that lets audiences enjoy a show without being confined to one area, unlike Newtown Park's pavilion.
• Hours from 6 a.m. to midnight, with about a mile of trail from Johns Creek Parkway north to McGinnis Ferry Road.

Mayor John Bradberry has been unusually direct about what the space is supposed to do for the city's identity. "People's pride in Johns Creek has been evolving as we've matured," he said. "It's going to be the most important thing to happen for our community since we were incorporated."

The grand opening concert in May gives you a sense of the programming. The night ran a Music Authority's Eclipse opening act, a ribbon cutting, headliner Boy Band Review at 8 p.m., and a drone show at 9:45, with food trucks including Auggie's Lucky Tacos, Gekko Hibachi Grill, Azucar Cuban Cuisine, King of Pops, and YOM. Bring a blanket. Buy a beer on site. Do not sneak in your own.

The tunnel that ties the halves together

If you have lived here any length of time, you already know the problem. Medlock Bridge Road, SR 141, is more than just a busy highway. It is a barrier. The Boardwalk sits on the east side. Everything Medley is building sits on the west. Crossing seven lanes on foot to move between the two would defeat the point.

So the city is putting a pedestrian tunnel underneath it. Groundbreaking was November 2024. The tunnel provides a safe, accessible crossing under Medlock Bridge Road connecting residents and visitors to the Town Center area and the park behind City Hall, with a design featuring an arch culvert underpass. Construction is expected to be completed in summer 2026 with the opening of The Boardwalk at Town Center.

Watch the current lane shifts if you commute that stretch. Crews recently moved travel to the eastern side of Medlock Bridge Road, posted variable message boards, and reset cones and barrels, with excavation on the west side beginning in preparation.

October 29: what actually opens at Medley

Then comes the storefront half of the sequence. STIR, the cocktail bar and scratch kitchen from Chattanooga, will anchor the central plaza and is scheduled to open during Medley's grand debut on October 29, 2026, at the $560 million mixed-use development by Toro Development Company. That date is the one to circle.

A quick orientation on the scope, because the numbers matter for how the place will feel:

• Located at McGinnis Ferry Road and Johns Creek Parkway, 43 acres with restaurants, retail, apartments, townhomes, a boutique hotel, office space, and a central plaza for community events.
• 900 residences ultimately, another 20,000 square feet of retail, and a central greenspace designed to host 200 events per year, from live music to outdoor wellness classes to art festivals and watch parties.
• The retail component is now more than 75 percent leased across 164,000 square feet.

The tenant list has grown steadily. Here is what has been confirmed for phase one, organized by what you would actually go there for.

Food and drink

Shake Shack, STIR and Tonic House, CRÚ Food & Wine Bar, Northern China Eatery are the headliners on the dining side. Northern China Eatery's Medley outpost will be the restaurant's first OTP location, following the original in Doraville and a Beltline location. Beyond those:

• Fadó Irish Pub in its first suburban location.
• 26 Thai Kitchen and Bar, Five Daughters Bakery, Minnie Olivia, Amorino, and Fogón and Lions.
• Summit Coffee, Lily Sushi Bar, Knuckies Hoagies, and Cookie Fix.
• The Nest Cafe, the Alpharetta breakfast-and-lunch spot that later expanded to Milton, is heading to Medley for its third location, expected to open in the fall alongside newly announced concepts including barber shop The Commodore, eyewear brand Warby Parker, and home decor and apparel brand 13 Hub Lane.

Retail, wellness, and services

Sephora, Drybar Shops, High Country Outfitters, BODYROK, BODY20, Pause Studio, Petfolk, Sugarcoat Beauty, Clean Your Dirty Face, Kontour Medical Spa, Moop's Boutique, and Burdlife.

The grocery question

The anchor most people will actually use every week is the grocery. Trader Joe's will open a new location at Medley Johns Creek in 2026. The smaller-format grocery store known for its private-label products, prepared foods, and loyal following tends to function as a daily stop rather than a full weekly shop, and often becomes one of the most visited places in any development it anchors, which will likely be one of the main drivers of consistent foot traffic at Medley.

What comes after October 29

Phase one is not the end. Medley's second phase, known as Encore, is officially underway following a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2026. Toro has hired Mainsail Lodging & Development to develop and operate a 150-key hotel as Medley's hospitality cornerstone, expected to be flagged under a nationally recognized, upper-upscale lifestyle soft brand, with 5,000 square feet of flexible meeting and events space and a signature restaurant linked to an adjacent greenspace. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2028.

Two other pieces of the surrounding area are worth knowing about because they change the daytime population on this corner of the city:

• Boehringer Ingelheim will occupy over 70,000 square feet of Medley's office space as the company's new U.S. headquarters with close to 500 employees.
• Boston Scientific's new life sciences research and development facility, adjacent to Medley, opened earlier this year with plans to bring more than 300 employees, and one-half mile away, Emory Johns Creek Hospital received approval to more than double its hospital and medical office space over the next 20 years.

A resident's calendar between now and opening day

If you already live here, this is the shape of the next few months:

• Summer 2026. The Medlock Bridge pedestrian tunnel finishes, and the crossing between the Boardwalk and the Medley side of SR 141 becomes real.
• Summer concerts, ongoing. The Boardwalk continues as a premier venue for concerts with capacity for 4,000, having already hosted shows by the city's Battle of the Bands winner.
• October 29, 2026. Medley's grand opening, with multiple new restaurants and retail brands expected to open at the same time.
• 2027 through 2028. Full project completion for Medley is scheduled for the end of 2027, with the boutique hotel following in 2028.

There is a version of this story where a new shopping center opens in the suburbs and the local coverage stops at the tenant list. What is happening at the corner of McGinnis Ferry and Johns Creek Parkway is different because the park came first and the tunnel came second. By the time STIR pours its first cocktail on October 29, residents will already have spent a summer walking the Boardwalk, sitting through a concert on the terraced seating, and using the tunnel to cross a road that used to feel uncrossable. The storefronts are the finishing detail, not the point.

If you are curious how a home in your part of Johns Creek fits into what all of this is doing to the neighborhood you already live in, our team at Local Loyalty Realtors is happy to talk through it with you. Calculate Your Rebate & Start Your Search whenever you are ready.