Tag: development

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.

Eviscerating a century-old office building and refashioning it into apartments is no easy feat. Older offices are nonpliable, stubborn things, riddled with secret problems and outdated floor plans. But the hassle was worth it for Centennial Yards Company, the developer behind a 162-unit project called the Lofts at Centennial Yards South, a remake of half of the long-vacant Norfolk Southern Buildings.

Hard to keep all the numbered buildings and buzzwords straight? Here’s a quick guide to what’s proposed, what’s underway, and what might have been.

In 2013, the City of Atlanta agreed to fund $200 million of the $1.6 billion price tag for billionaire Arthur Blank’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. However, that covered only upfront development costs and did not account for operating and financing expenses, which will be paid with nearly 40 percent of the city’s hotel tax over the next 30 years, for a total investment of roughly $700 million. Blank pegs private dollars at $850 million, leaving 40 percent of the total cost coming from public coffers.

The developers behind Atlantic Station and Colony Square are redesigning the Marietta shopping center. Here’s what it will look like.

Dan Immergluck’s new book, Red Hot City, describes an Atlanta that’s a good place to do business—but increasingly out of reach for many of its longtime residents. In his book, out this month, he details paths taken—and not taken—by policymakers that he says have resulted in a housing crisis that is forcing lower-income, and often Black, families further and further out from the transit, hospitals, and jobs in the city’s core.

Winners Circle Park, a fusion of dining and basically every sport outside of auto racing and boxing, is expected to break ground in Forsyth County by late summer. The privately funded project is expected to cost upwards of $150 million.

The Atlanta Housing Authority, which purchased the sprawling facility from the city in 2017, has outlined a plan to preserve and update the historic auditorium, while transforming the surrounding complex into a mix of affordable and market-rate housing, retail, and shared public space.

Most of Atlanta's food halls are a collection of order-at-counter mini restaurants with central, communal seating. When it opens in the spring, the Hall at Ashford Lane will be full-service. Diners will order off a single menu featuring food and drinks from nine different restaurants and two bars, and a server will bring everything to their table.

“No matter what you put there, it will always be a landmark.”