Development

What Newport had toiled for seven years to accumulate took David Cummings less than two months to purchase, through deals with seven different lenders. As of this writing, Atlanta Ventures’ new LLC, SoDo Atlanta, now owns all of Newport’s former holdings, save one. Cummings isn’t disclosing yet what he paid for such a hefty chunk of downtown, but says he’s pleased with the sale price: “You never know what something’s worth, [but] it feels good right now.”

The largest free-standing bird sculpture in the world is about to rise up in front of the Atlanta Falcons' new home: Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

At this point, it’s not just rundown. Not merely blighted, or even postapocalyptic. It’s like a 15-story set for one of the Saw movies—all bleak corridors, scary shadows, busted concrete, and bad graffiti. And unfortunately, the former Presidential Hotel serves as a sort of cylindrical front door for not just DeKalb County but all of ITP Atlanta, at least for anyone headed down from, say, Lilburn, Buford, or Charlotte. It’s been called one of the metro’s most visible buildings and one of its worst eyesores.

The big theme that emerged was a tension between making the center more “accessible” versus establishing the Shops as Atlanta’s true beacon of luxury shopping—with a lingering question whether those two ideas are mutually exclusive.

“Atlanta has an opportunity over the next 25 years to completely shift [its] way of developing,” says Tim Keane. “But we will not be successful if we don’t have a design.”

Next month, crews will put the final touches on a 350-foot deep reservoir holding 2.4 billion gallons of water Atlanta can tap in case of an emergency. Later on, they’ll cut the ribbon on the surrounding park, the city’s largest.

Prepare yourselves, Georgia. The state is getting its first locations of beloved Texas businesses Buc-ee's, a massive gas station with impeccable bathrooms and unique snacks, and Alamo Drafthouse, one of the most-loved movie theater chains in the country.

This summer, a stretch of Spring Street was renamed in honor of Ted Turner. Maybe you heard. Keeping up with our constant street name changes is a challenge, and not a new one: In 1903 the Atlanta Constitution reported that more than 225 city streets had changed names at least once—some as many as seven times.

Atlanta-based Cousins Properties has teamed with apartment developer AMLI to transform an entire city block just south of the Decatur Square.

Construction activity abounds at the Midtown mixed-use development, promising a reimagined landscape that, developers hope, will better cater to its residents and visitors alike.