Crust Pasta & Pizzeria is leaving its home at 131 S. Main St. in downtown Alpharetta and moving across the street to 142 S. Main St., the building where the short-lived Off Leash dog park café concept closed in December 2024.

A restaurant manager confirmed the planned move to Appen Media, which reported the relocation Aug. 11. No opening date at the new location has been announced.

The move comes as the block around Crust's current strip mall transforms. Alpharetta District Places, a joint venture between Market District Development and McKibbon Places, broke ground in June on 2.4 acres along Roswell Street between Old Milton Parkway and Marietta Street. City elected officials and staff attended the groundbreaking, according to the city's economic development department. The project will bring four buildings, nearly 100 surface parking spaces and 34,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space to the area directly behind the pizzeria's current home.

McKibbon Places president Erik Rowen told Appen Media that his company has no current plans to demolish or alter the existing strip mall at 131 S. Main St. Businesses there hold leases and legally binding documents, and no tenants are being displaced by Phase 1 construction, according to co-developer Brent Beecham of Market District Development.

Still, Crust's decision to cross the street positions it inside a block that will soon be surrounded by the new development. Phase 1 is projected to open by late fall 2027, with plans for chef-driven restaurants, boutique retail, a 300-to-350-person live music venue and a business incubator with 400-to-500-square-foot storefronts aimed at giving small businesses an affordable entry into downtown, according to an Alpharetta.com interview with the developers.

Brad Weiner, managing broker for Alpharetta's Realty on Main, said the South Main corridor is well suited for restaurants because of pedestrian access and proximity to the downtown district's growing residential density.

"The downtown sector has exploded with a tremendous amount of high-density residential," Weiner told Appen Media. "The whole purpose of coming into the downtown area is because everything is so accessible and walkable."

But Weiner flagged a challenge: the intersection at South Main and Old Milton Parkway. He called the traffic at that light "horrific," citing medians and congestion, and said the difficult navigation is one reason he believes Off Leash failed after only a few months at the 142 S. Main location.

Donna Murphy, president of the 400 North Realtors Association, called the former Off Leash building a "prime location" that she expects to gain value as Alpharetta District Places develops nearby.

The developers have said their goal is to attract regional visitors who currently bypass downtown for Avalon rather than compete with existing tenants. Rowen told Alpharetta.com in May that a potential Phase 2 could add 195 multi-family residential units, though he said programming for that phase is still being revisited.

Crust has not announced when it will open at the new address.