• EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA...(the Centennial Olympic Park area) and how cities...

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Prepared for Central Atlanta Progress and The City of Atlanta by Urban Collage, Inc. in assciation with the Bleakly Advisory Group April 2007 EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA

Transcript of • EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA...(the Centennial Olympic Park area) and how cities...

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Prepared for Central Atlanta Progress and The City of Atlantaby Urban Collage, Inc. in assciation with the Bleakly Advisory Group

April 2007

• E A S T - W E S T C O R R I D O R D O W N T O W N A T L A N T A •

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Capitol Education Park

Escalator at 5 Points MARTA rail station

Dear Participant:

Thank you for agreeing to take part in the April 18 meeting about Downtown Atlanta’s East-West Corridor. This will be an exciting and important gathering. Our aim is to bring together Downtown’s major stakeholders to exchange ideas and think creatively about an important part of our downtown – and to help Central Atlanta Progress think about its own work program for the Corridor.

This meeting comes at an important time for Downtown Atlanta. As you know, Downtown is coming alive again. From SoNo and Centennial Olympic Park to Peachtree Street and from Auburn Avenue to Castleberry Hill, many areas are experiencing investment in hotels, offices, residences and cultural facilities.

So the time is right to focus on the challenging East-West Corridor running from the railroad “Gulch” to Oakland Cemetery across the south central business district. This area presents a unique opportunity to accentuate the presence of local, state and federal government; Georgia State University, Underground Atlanta and the Georgia World Congress Center in creating a dynamic mixed-use center of employment, residences and entertainment served by regional transportation facilities. At the meeting, we will talk about these assets and possibilities – and get your ideas about how to take advantage of them.

This will be a highly interactive meeting, which means that you will spend a good deal of time working in groups of eight to ten participants. So come prepared to talk as well as listen. We will serve a continental breakfast and box lunches.

Again, thank you for your service to Downtown Atlanta. We look forward to seeing you at the Omni Hotel International Ballroom on April 18.

Sincerely,

A.J. RobinsonPresident, Central Atlanta Progress

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Background on the Meeting

On April 18, Central Atlanta Progress and The City of Atlanta will host an important meeting about Downtown Atlanta’s East-West Corridor. The aim is to bring together people from public agencies and private-sector companies to learn what is happening in the Corridor today, what might happen in years ahead, and to talk about ways of dealing with obstacles to the healthy development of the area.

At the meeting, participants will hear from speakers about how Atlanta has used public-private partnerships in the past to create exciting new urban areas (the Centennial Olympic Park area) and how cities elsewhere have revived their downtowns. There will be presentations on the East-West Corridor itself – its current situation and possibilities for progress. But much of the day will be spent in group discussions of eight to ten participants, with notes captured on flip-chart pads.

In brief, we’ll give you some starting points for thinking about the Corridor and ask that you help us answer some important questions about how it could be developed. Your answers will help Central Atlanta Progress plan its own activities in the Corridor – and, we hope, spur others to think creatively. No one will be quoted by name in the flip-chart notes or in the post-meeting report that follows. No one will be asked to make commitments. Our intention on April 18 is to get your best thinking and advice about the East-West Corridor and its future.

In the pages that follow, you’ll find information about the East-West Corridor that will get you thinking in advance of the meeting. Please come ready to listen carefully, to exchange ideas with fellow participants and to think out loud about how to bring new life to this important part of our Downtown.

East-West Corridor ForumApril 18, 2007Omni Hotel, International Ballroom100 CNN Center, Atlanta GA 303038:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (breakfast and lunch will be served)Business casual dress

April 18, 2007

8:00 a.m.

- Registration and Continental Breakfast - Welcome and Meeting Overview - Featured Speaker: Charlie Battle, “Atlanta’s Legacy of Big Ideas” - Existing Conditions Presentation - How should we think about and look at the E-W Corridor?

10:15 a.m. - Group Exercise

BREAK

- “Big Ideas” Presentation by Stanford Harvey What are the possibilities for E-W progress?

- Group Exercise

12:20 p.m. Lunch - Featured Speaker: Chris Leinberger “Lessons from other cities: What makes revitalization work?”

- Group Exercise

BREAK

2:05 p.m.

- Summary Discussion and Feedback - Featured Speaker: Mark Bulmash, Forest City Enterprises, “Experience in Three Cities”

3:30 p.m.

- Thank you and Follow-Up

A G E N D A

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OTIS WHITE

Facilitator

Otis White is president of Civic Strategies, Inc., and a public policy consultant for more than 12 years. Before that, Otis was a business journalist. He is a graduate of Leadership Georgia and the Regional Leadership Institute, and a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, on the subject of community leadership. For a number of years, he edited a twice-monthly newsletter about urban development issues, wrote a column for Governing magazine and was a weekly commentator on the National Public Radio show Smart City. He is a former editor and publisher of Georgia Trend magazine. He is now working on a project to learn how communities make important decisions – and how they can make better decisions. Otis has a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) from Columbus State University in Georgia and a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York.

CHARLES H. BATTLE, JR.

Speaker

A long-time Atlantan, attorney Charlie Battle now travels the world as an International Advisor to cities pursuing Olympic bids including New York City, Beijing, China, Vancouver, Canada and Sochi, Russia. After attending the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, serving in the United States and then completing Law School at Emory University, Mr. Battle became an attorney with the law firm King & Spalding in Atlanta. In 1987, he volunteered as one of the “original nine” to secure for Atlanta the designation by the United States Olympic Committee as the U.S. city to bid for the 1996 Olympic Games, which led him to serve as Executive Vice President of the Atlanta Organizing Committee. Mr. Battle has also served as president of Central Atlanta Progress, participated in Leadership Georgia, is on the Board of Trustees of the Southern Center for International Studies, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and a member of the Board of Directors of Hemisphere, Inc.

JON ABERCROMBIE

Facilitator

Jon Abercrombie has led major community visioning programs for Decatur, Augusta, and Gainesville-Hall County, Ga., as well as numerous other public involvement projects. Jon assisted Decatur Public Schools when facing controversial changes in its system by involving more than 400 parents in discussing attendance and education issues. Jon specializes in discussions involving issues of race and ethnicity. He is a senior associate of the Study Circle Resource Center in Connecticut, which leads community dialogues across the country. He has also facilitated summits of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, the Marietta City Council and others. Jon is a graduate of Bryan College in Tennessee with master’s degrees from Georgia State University and the University of Memphis.

STANFORD HARVEY

Speaker

As one of the founding Principals of Urban Collage, Stanford Harvey, AICP, possesses over fifteen years of experience in redevelopment and planning. Building upon both his background in architecture and city planning and his work for the City of Atlanta in the years preceding the 1996 Olympics, Mr. Harvey has served as Principal-In-Charge for numerous firm projects. His specialty is conceptualization of planning processes, facilitating community participation, directing facilities/infrastructure programs and developing implementation strategies. His work has included projects throughout the Southeast within a wide variety of contexts. Major projects include the BeltLine TAD Feasibility Study & Implementation, the Peachtree Corridor Plan, Atlanta Public School’s BuildSmart, Blueprint Midtown, Imagine Downtown, Perimeter Focus, numerous HOPE VI and neighborhood plans, and 20 Livable Centers Initiatives.

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CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER

Speaker

Chris Leinberger is a land use strategist, developer, teacher, consultant and author, helping to make progressive development profitable. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, focusing on research and practices that are helping to transform traditional and suburban downtowns and other places that provide “walkable urbanity.” He is also a Professor of Practice and Director of the Graduate Real Estate Program at the University of Michigan. In addition, he is a founding partner of Arcadia Land Company, a progressive real estate development firm which has had projects in Independence, Missouri, the Philadelphia metropolitan area and Downtown Albuquerque. Chris has written award-winning articles for publications such as the Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Urban Land magazine, among others, and is the author or has contributed chapters to six books. He has been profiled by national broadcast and print media such as CNN, Today Show, National Public Radio and Progressive Architecture, among others. Chris is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Business School. His wife, Lisa, and he live in the DuPont Circle area of Washington, DC, within walking distance of both Metro and Brookings.

MARK G. BULMASH

Speaker

Mark Bulmash joined Forest City Enterprises as senior vice president, development in May 2005. He oversees new project development for the East Coast division of Forest City Commercial Group. Projects currently under development include The Promenade at Bolingbrook (Bolingbrook, IL), The Shops at Wiregrass (Pasco, Co., FL), The Village at Gulfstream Park (Hallandale Beach, FL), The Summit at Lehigh (Allentown, PA) and White Oaks Village (Henrico Co., VA). Bulmash spent 17 years at The Taubman Company, which he joined in 1987. He held positions in property management, leasing, market research, financial analysis and construction before landing in their Development Group. He became director of development in 1991, was named vice president of development in 1997 and was promoted to group vice president of development in 2001.

Bulmash led Taubman’s efforts to develop The Shops at Willow Bend (Plano, Texas), The Mall at Wellington Green (Wellington, FL) and The Mall at Oyster Bay (Long Island, NY – scheduled to open 2008). He has directed major renovations and/or additions to several regional shopping centers, including Briarwood (Ann Arbor, MI), Lakeforest (Gaithersburg, MD), Twelve Oaks (Novi, MI), Stamford Town Center (Stanford, CT – scheduled to open 2007) and Woodland (Grand Rapids, MI). Before joining Taubman, he worked in strategic and business planning for the Turner Construction Company in Philadelphia. Earlier in his career, he practiced architecture and planning with Clarke & Caton, a Trenton, N.J.-based architecture firm. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from the University of Michigan, a master of city planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of business administration from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

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5“The Gulch” today (looking northeast)

Georgia State Capitol

The Purpose of the Study

Right from its inception and through history, Downtown Atlanta has been the heart of the city. From this center, life has spread into the areas around it. Today, Atlanta is one of the fastest growing cities and its Downtown continues to play a crucial role as a commercial, business, educational and entertainment center. Over the years, as development has taken place in and around this center, the transportation infrastructure in particular has separated the area from surrounding neighborhoods and districts.

The East-West Corridor Study is an attempt to unify the Downtown with areas to its east and west. It aims to review existing conditions; identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; define issues for discussion; review plan products and prioritize implementation steps. The overarching goal of this effort is to provide an interactive process among area stakeholders and project facilitators that will spark future development ideas and generate a common vision for the Corridor.

Imagine Downtown Context

Downtown Atlanta embarked on an exciting journey into the future with the completion of the Imagine Downtown plan in 2005. With the market for urban housing driving up demand in the city’s core, Imagine Downtown brought together almost 2,000 stakeholders to participate in workshops, interviews, and online surveys to build a vision of the historic heart of Atlanta that accommodates the residential growth in a gracious and invigorating public environment. Two of the Focus Areas - Terminus and South CBD - cover much of the East-West Corridor geographically. Their related goal statements, along with others, capture the essence of the Corridor’s opportunities and challenges, these goals are:

- Bridge the gaps in Downtown created by the Interstate

- Re-establish Peachtree as the premier street of the Southeast

- Build a new neighborhood around the Garnett Street MARTA station

- Connect all of Georgia in a state-of-the-art transportation hub

Like the Peachtree Corridor Vision Plan and the Butler-Auburn Redevelopment Plan Update, this East-West Corridor effort is intended to take the planning done during Imagine Downtown to the next level, both in the sense of creating a refined dialogue between those closest to the area, and of creating a program of implementation steps that can take move the Corridor that much closer to realizing the promise that Downtown Atlanta holds.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

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The “Gulch” area in 1864.

Atlanta’s first union station, constructed in 1853, stood in the block now bounded by Central Avenue, Wall Street, Pryor Street, and Alabama Street (next to today’s Underground Atlanta).

Origin

The undulating line of the East-West Corridor traces the very origins of the City of Atlanta in that it follows the bed of the Georgia Railroad - the first railroad built in the state and the link between the state’s wild interior and the colonial port of Charleston. The Georgia Railroad met the Western & Atlantic in the vicinity of today’s Philips Arena; and it was the W&A that set the granite Zero Mile Post (still visible beneath the viaducts) that determined the one-mile radial boundary of the city. Both railroads were targets of General Sherman when he burned the city; and both remain vital routes between the coast and the Midwest, invaluable to the economy of the city and the state. The railroads even determined the form of Downtown, where frontier landowners divided their properties into streets aligning with them for ease of loading. Competition to expand these real estate ventures led to the sharp corners and wedge-shaped buildings where the different properties (and street grids) met.

The railroads and their two terminals quickly transformed the appearance of most of the central part of the Corridor. Hotels and shops serving the terminals sprung up along Mitchell and Forsyth streets; while the viaduct system built in the 1920s to bridge the railroads created a subterranean world where teamsters and freight handlers mingled with vagabonds, and where today musicians perform in the air-conditioned spaces of Underground. Railroads remained a powerful force in shaping the Corridor into the 1950s; warehouses bumped up against shops and homes, and even the State Capitol. Even today, some of the warehouses remain as evidence of those busy times.

Transition

The automobile changed the corridor in the 1950s and 60s as much as the railroads had in the 1920s. Provoked by increasing traffic and the impulse to bury the railroads, the system of viaducts was reconceived as a continuous public mall in the tradition of the City Beautiful movement, with parks and plazas above the rails and a new east-west arterial street (the latter was never built). Only a few of the open viaduct blocks were filled in; but they quickly became refuges from the surrounding commercial areas. To the east, Capitol Homes replaced a deteriorating neighborhood with modern brick apartments; their modernist design turning away from the streets and their growing congestion. As the 60s became the 70s, the railroads declined further and projects got bigger. On the west, the Omni and the Georgia World Congress Center replaced the passenger yards and freight warehouses, while the Russell courthouse replaced Terminal Station itself. The corridor became dominated by parking lots and one-way streets, with MARTA eventually the only passenger rail service available. Today, the corridor’s fragmented character and historic relics are undergoing another period of transformation...

H I S T O R Y

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Summary of Previous Plans

There has certainly been no shortage of planning endeavors in and around the Downtown area. From the linear nature of corridor studies such as the Peachtree Corridor Vision Plan to the more neighborhood-scaled plans such as the Butler Auburn Community Redevelopment Plan, the plethora of such efforts is represented in a bright palette of colors below. Although the boundaries and extents of previous plans are relatively straightforward, it is the areas where such boundaries overlap that are perhaps the most intriguing. It is in such locations where the abutment of jurisdictional lines, the highest diversity of stakeholders and important physical barriers can often be found. Furthermore, it is these overlapping lines where the greatest complexities of the city are often exposed.

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Existing Land Use

Current land uses make it very clear that Downtown Atlanta embodies a hub of varied activity. The study area in particular has a large concentration of institutional buildings that house both government and educational activities. A substantial portion of land is currently used as parking - the largest of such areas remains recessed in the “Gulch” itself. A smattering of commercial buildings can be found along primary streets in the study area; however, unlike areas in the northern part of Downtown, the majority of theses mixed-use buildings are 1 to 4 stories in height. The study area is bookended by single-family neighborhoods - Vine City to the west and Grant Park to the east.

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Existing Zoning

Although there are a diversity of zoning districts along the periphery of the study area, the heart of it is covered by the SPI-1 (Special Public Interest) District. In these areas, such an ordinance has been created by the community to help shape future development to specific needs. An narrow sliver of commercial zones exist along the west and south edges of the study area, which captures the GWCC, the edge of Castleberry Hill, the southern side of Memorial Drive and the area around City Hall. The western edge of the study area consists of smaller SPIs that have additional sub-area requirements. The eastern edge is predominantly residential with some industrial, mixed-use and a small amount of neighborhood-scaled commercial.

Although the Downtown Livability Code is not yet adopted, it will have implications for existing zoning. The code is expected to be adopted in Summer of 2007.

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Transportation Patterns

There exists a wide diversity of transportation modes within the study area, with more on the horizon. The area is easily accessible by both East-West and North-South interstate traffic. Although the Peachtree “spine” contains a variety of vehicles, pedestrians and potential for a future streetcar, it is the one-way pairs of Piedmont-Capitol/Courtland-Washington and Spring/COP Drive that move a hefty amount of local traffic north and south. Meanwhile, Northside Drive (to the west) remains a comparatively low-traveled, but important thoroughfare. Memorial Drive, MLK Jr. Drive and Decatur Street remain the most notable east-west streets within the study area. Overall, this area, perhaps more than any other in the entire southeast, contains a heavy assortment of public transportation options - 6 MARTA Rail stations lie within these boundaries.

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Public Space/Pedestrian

Although both Woodruff Park and Centennial Olympic Park brush up against the study area, the south central business district and environs do not contain a whole lot of public green space per capita. The pedestrian-only Upper Alabama Street at Underground Atlanta is perhaps the most notable public space within the study area. Certainly, the landscapes that surround the Georgia Dome, City Hall and the State Capitol are significant gathering spaces. However, the map below suggests that public gathering spaces within the study area are generally not located along major pedestrian routes as they are north of the study area. Interestingly, the majority of the public spaces in question are directly related to a specific building or destination, unlike, say, Woodruff Park, that stands as the amenity by which other uses and programs latch onto.

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• EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA •

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Property Ownership/Projects

The majority of property owners within this study area are government and educational entities. The City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia own the most land. A significant portion is also owned by transportation and utility companies 4 of the 5 projects are being developed by government agencies.

Page 14: • EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA...(the Centennial Olympic Park area) and how cities elsewhere have revived their downtowns. There will be presentations on the East-West Corridor

• EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA •

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EXISTING CONDITIONS : Development Opportunities

In areas such as this, the identification of opportunities for future development goes hand-in-hand with the preservation of historic resources. It is this type of relationship that has spawned the burgeoning “Railroad District” and furthered the appeal of neighborhoods such as Castleberry Hill.

Overall, the study area contains a multitude of short-term and long-term development opportunities. To the west, The “Gulch” is poised as the largest near-term opportunity within the study area. Nearby, the surface parking lots around the GWCC and along Spring Street present themselves as long-term institutional, office or tourism-related expansion areas. Although even longer-term, the redevelopment of the Vine City MARTA rail station is an important prospect.

The heart of the South Central Business District (along Peachtree and Broad Streets) contains a smattering of short- and long-term opportunities, juxtaposed with dozens of significant historic resources. The bulk of these opportunities are currently surface parking lots. The area around the Garnett MARTA Station also poses a unique long-term TOD opportunity.

To the east, the prospect of the Capitol Gateway bridge and park has the potential to drive development along Memorial Drive and MLK, Jr. Drive. Oakland Cemetery and nearby rehabilitation projects such as the Mattress Factory are unique historic assets. The aging commercial properties along Memorial Drive and adjacent to the ongoing Capitol Gateway project are prime short-term development opportunities.

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• EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA •

14Birds eye view of Centennial Tower and the Gulch immediately behind it

M A R K E T C O N D I T I O N SKey Findings of the Market Overview of the East-West Corridor

Each day the East-West Corridor is visited by thousands of metro residents coming to:

- recreate at the Georgia Dome, CNN Center, Philips Arena, or Underground Atlanta

- interact with representatives of the federal, state and local governments,

- learn at Georgia State University

- heal at Grady Hospital and the Children’s’ Healthcare complex, and

- connect through the many spokes and nodes of our increasingly overlapping mass transit system including MARTA, Greyhound, and regional bus systems.

Population: 6,251 people live in the East-West Corridor today—the number of residents is expected to grow to 8,834 by 2020—a 39.1% increase.

Resident Characteristics: The average resident of the East-West Corridor is 31 years old, is African-American, is a high school graduate or has some college education, and works in a white-collar or service occupation.

Household Characteristics: There are 1,841 households in the Corridor, or 16.5% of all Downtown households, and is projected to grow to 2,937 households by 2020. Singles are the largest segment of households (43.7%) followed by other family households with and without children (31.7%).

Income: The median income of households in the Corridor is $26,138 which is slightly higher than Downtown as a whole, but lags the citywide median of $44,554.

Students: Enrollment at Georgia State University is projected to increase from 27,200 in 2004 to 36,000 by 2015—a 30% increase. Growing numbers of students will be living on campus. With the opening of University Commons in the fall of 2007, 2,400 students will live on campus, growing to 3,900 by 2015. Many other students will live in apartments and private housing in and near the Corridor.

Employees: 47,704 people work in the Corridor today, with the largest percentage in public administration (58.4%), and services (20.1%). Within the larger Downtown area, the public administration sector employs over 7,000 federal workers, 18,500 State of Georgia employees and 13,800 City of Atlanta and Fulton County employees.

Visitors to the Corridor: An estimated 3.5-4.5 million visitors come to or near the East-West Corridor each year while visiting Underground Atlanta, World of Coca-Cola, The Georgia Aquarium, Georgia Dome/GWCC Complex and Philips Arena. This does not include the many business and governmental visitors to the federal, state and local governmental offices each year.

Office Space: There is 2.3 million SF of existing competitive office space in the Corridor with a 15.5% vacancy rate.

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The Mattress Factory Lofts are a popular warehouse-turned-residential development along MLK Jr. Drive

Rehabilitated industrial building in nearby Castleberry Hill

M A R K E T C O N D I T I O N SRetail Space: There is 398,588 SF of retail space in the Corridor with Underground dominating that space, at 220,000 SF.

Residential market: There are 2,041 existing housing units in the Corridor, which is 16.2% of the Downtown inventory. Multifamily units (85%) and rental units (69.5%) predominate. The average sales price of a home in the Corridor increased from $206,440 in 2004 to $474,229 in 2006.

New Residential Development: There are over 2,500 residential units in the development pipeline in the Corridor with a projected market value of over $460 million.

Catalyst Projects: There are six catalyst project areas will continue to drive development in the East West Corridor:

- Eastside Residential Renaissance

- State Capitol Complex Expansion and Mall

- Underground Atlanta/Five Points MARTA rail station

- The Railroad District

- Expanding Federal District

- The “Gulch”

Residential Demand: Over the period from 2006-2020 there is projected demand for 7,613 residential units in the Corridor, with the strongest demand from single and two-person households.

Office Demand: Based on the projected employment growth in the Corridor of 5,729 jobs by 2020, there will be demand for 708,000 SF of additional office space.

Retail Potential: The rich mix of growing resident base, employment base, additional students and more tourists will see the existing retail potential of the area of $142 million increase to $173 million by 2012.

Page 17: • EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA...(the Centennial Olympic Park area) and how cities elsewhere have revived their downtowns. There will be presentations on the East-West Corridor

• EAST-WEST CORRIDOR DOWNTOWN ATLANTA •

16Capitol Gateway Illustrative Plan (2003)

Overview

The East District extends between Peachtree Street and Oakland Cemetery, taking in the former site of Capitol Homes and a portion of the Grant Park neighborhood; the State Capitol and office complex; City Hall and other city and county buildings including the jail and courts; a sliver of the Georgia State University campus; and Underground Atlanta and adjacent retail. Though divided by the Downtown Connector, it has good access and relatively few areas of surface parking or underdeveloped lots. The heavy institutional focus results in solid, monumental buildings in garden-like settings. However, the limited retail uses and the absence of housing west of the Connector limits the pedestrian presence in non-business hours. Most of the land east of the Connector is undergoing redevelopment which will eventually offset this condition.

Current/Planned Projects

1. Capitol Gateway: Partnership of the Atlanta Housing Authority, the Integral Group, Trammell Crow Residential and Regent Partners. Mixed-use mixed-income neighborhood with 922 total residential units of apartments, condominiums, townhomes and single-family detached houses. Development includes storefront retail fronting Memorial Drive and a formal open-space mall extending from I-75/85 to Oakland Cemetery.

2. King Memorial TOD: Partnership of MARTA, the Integral Group, Trammell Crow Residential and Regent Partners. Mixed-use transit-oriented development with specifics to be determined; phased with build-out of Capitol Gateway.

3. State Capitol Campus Improvements: Various projects implementing portions of the Capitol Hill Master Plan including relocation of the Department of Transportation and reassessment of the building site; construction of a platform over I-75/85 as a park leading to the mall described above; and street closings and realignments to increase the formal open space around the State Capitol. Also ongoing study of potential future uses of the former World of Coca-Cola parcel.

4. Underground Atlanta: Increasing partnerships with Georgia State University including the former Underground Suites hotel reoriented as a student dormitory; additional housing sites adjacent to Underground being considered. Other ideas for market diversification such as gaming, adjusting the entertainment format of Kenny’s Alley, etc. continue to be explored.

5. City of Atlanta Facilities Expansion: Construction of a new public safety (joint police and fire) headquarters building at Garnett Street, as well as a new parking facility for city employees along Central Avenue, further solidifying the civic presence of city hall and the recent buildings for the school district and the municipal court.

E A S T E R N C O R R I D O R D I S T R I C T

Framework Map showing Eastern Subarea

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17Oakland Cemetery

Issues & Opportunities

The overwhelming presence of the state, county and city government give the district a monumental presence, although the lack of activity after office hours is a detriment to integrating the area into a more diversified neighborhood. Engaging the new Capitol Gateway mitigates this detachment, providing the barrier of the interstate can be overcome by the size of the open space platform and the treatment of MLK Jr. and Memorial Drives. Redevelopment plans for both the state archives and the DOT sites, combined with the recent tax allocation district for the Turner Field area, suggest a bold and comprehensive vision of the future of Capitol Avenue is warranted – possibly with the involvement of the state. The former World of Coca-Cola site is also an opportunity to examine a number of programs that might benefit the needs of its neighbors and link Capitol Hill with the proposed multimodal terminal. Traffic issues are an underlying concern, from the one-way streets functioning to move vehicles rapidly through the area to problems associated with bus queuing at the Capitol Visitors Center.

Strategic Questions

The following strategic questions are some of the issues that warrant further discussion:

- How do we overcome the barrier that the Downtown Connector presents?

- What are the opportunities in areas adjacent to the corridor that will nurture the office and institutional focus of the area?

- How do we create a signature public realm?

- How do we capitalize on the accessibility afforded by the hub of the MARTA rail system?

- How do we capitalize upon the extraordinary name recognition of Underground Atlanta?

- What are the opportunities that will result from the relocation of the World of Coca- Cola?

E A S T E R N C O R R I D O R D I S T R I C T

Georgia State Capitol, circa 1956.

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Framework Map showing Western Subarea

Railroad underpass at Peters Street, circa 1952.

W E S T E R N C O R R I D O R D I S T R I C TOverview

The West District extends between Peachtree Street and the Vine City neighborhood and encompasses the Five Points MARTA station and the railroad “Gulch” including the CNN Center and parking deck; the Georgia World Congress Center, Philips Arena and the Georgia Dome; the cluster of federal office buildings centered around the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center; the “Hotel Row” historic district and other landmark buildings near Mitchell and Spring streets; the area around the Garnett Street MARTA station; and the eastern frontages of Vine City and the Atlanta University Center. Like the East District, it is divided in half by a major infrastructure barrier - this time rail. Connections between the two halves are limited to a few streets, which are further complicated by one-way traffic patterns. MARTA rail coverage is quite good, with three stations serving the district; but the parking demand of the government uses to the east has resulted in many surface parking lots.

Current/Planned Projects

1. Gulch / MMPT: The concentration of rail infrastructure, the subject of planning efforts since the 1950s, now the site of a proposed multimodal passenger terminal (MMPT) that would be the hub of a commuter and statewide intercity rail network as well as local express bus service, with connections to MARTA rail. Economic development ideas complementary to the MMPT include high-density residential and commercial mixed-use, and a possible casino.

2. “Railroad District” Developments: Private initiative to brand an area of historic railroad-based buildings and surface parking lots, with several projects planned to begin by 2008. The effort capitalizes on the proximity to the loft/warehouse/arts district of Castleberry Hill, as well as landmarks like the former Norfolk-Southern headquarters.

3. Federal Center Improvements & Expansions: Ongoing strengthening of the federal presence in Downtown. Improvements to existing buildings include renovation of the MLK Jr. Federal Building/old post office as a GSA facility, and construction of a new entry pavilion at the Russell courthouse. New buildings include a INS/Homeland Security facility at Spring and Trinity streets, and the potential for an additional GSA office building in the vicinity of the Gulch.

4. GWCC Long-Term Improvements: Long-term redevelopment of the Orange parking lot, as well as the future improvements to (or replacement) of the Georgia Dome.

5. Vine City Redevelopment: Long-term redevelopment of Northside Drive frontage parcels as eight- to ten-story mixed-use, as well as incremental single-family attached and detached infill in the neighborhood behind.

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Philips Arena parking

Concept Plan for Multimodal Passenger Terminal

W E S T E R N C O R R I D O R D I S T R I C TIssues & Opportunities

The issue dominating the West District, and its biggest opportunity as well, is underdevelopment due to external influences – the surface parking lots that are driven by demand originating in the government complexes, and the problem of re-routing freight trains around Downtown to accelerate redevelopment of the Gulch when alternative routes are few. Other opportunities contribute to the strong redevelopment potential in this area – excellent transit coverage, a network of walkable blocks, a solid stock of historic buildings, and a strong image associated with a railroad past. The proximity of the sports and conference venues at the Georgia World Congress Center is an opportunity (as is CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park), although traffic generated by events is a disadvantage and an issue to be explored. The adjacent arts district of Castleberry Hill and the nearby Atlanta University Center are also opportunities to be leveraged, but poor connections to these neighborhoods undermines this potential. The West District has good interstate access, but, like its eastern counterpart, has some streets which function as traffic conduits to the highways.

Strategic Questions

The following strategic questions are some of the issues that warrant further discussion:

- How do we use the “Gulch” as the binding element between Philips Arena, the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome, Centennial Olympic Park and the neighborhoods to the east and south?

- How do we address and enhance connections to Castleberry Hill and Vine City?

- What can be implemented immediately given the complex existing conditions?

- How do we encourage housing and mixed-use development?

- How can a framework be implemented for air-rights development of the “Gulch” while protecting the opportunity for future transportation connections?