Downtown Atlanta, 2017: the year in urbanism
From my urbanist’s perspective, these are the best things that happened in Downtown Atlanta during the last year.
I’ve been living with my family in a Downtown apartment building for seven years now. We get an up-close view on changes and developments in the city center. Here’s the stuff that struck me as being the best, from my urbanism-nerd perspective, from 2017.
The Five Points Walgreens
During the first year of this place being in the neighborhood (it actually opened in September of 2016), it’s grown into a wonderful resource for residents, GSU students, office workers and various visitors in Downtown. The lighted windows alone add a lot of energy to the street at night, but the best part is seeing my neighbors here and all the GSU kids lined up to buy groceries and more.
The proposal for the Constitution Building
This once-impressive Art Moderne building has sat abandoned (with weeds and trees growing out of it) for, literally, decades. It’s been a sad eyesore in a high-visibility spot beside the Five Points MARTA Station. Walking past this kind of blighted property regularly can really get you down. So when we learned this year that it has been purchased by someone who plans to renovate it, fill it with offices, and even build some housing beside it — that was a huge thrill for Downtowners. It’s something we’ve wanted for many years.
Station Soccer at Five Points MARTA
The little auditorium on top of the Five Points train station was intended for public performances when built, but for whatever reason, that didn’t happen. Like the Constitution Building across the street, this space sat empty and unused for decades. But over the past year it’s become filled with life during the day and in the evening as the Station Soccer initiative has occupied it with kids and adults playing games on it. This is a beautiful sight to see, and I recommend catching a night game here. The view of the action and the city skyline all together is very cool.
The MC Kiser Lofts, adaptive reuse & new residential in South Downtown
I can’t tell you how excited I am to see this underway. The conversion of this old commercial building (built in 1923) into lofts is giving South Downtown its first new residential project in many years. Adaptive reuse of historic building stock is already a good thing. But when it adds new residents to the area , that’s extra special. Creating new places for people to live is what I consider to be the main (though not the only) ingredient to the future success of Downtown as a great urban place.
The Masquerade is staying in Downtown permanently
The Masquerade, with its multiple music venues, has given a nice shot of energy to Underground Atlanta, a place that’s been on a slow slide toward emptiness — specifically at night — for many years. When it opened here last year the move was intended to be temporary. I’m happy to see that it’s staying. With the Tabernacle, the Rialto, and Philips Arena already here providing spaces for concerts, as well Mammal Gallery and Eyedrum hosting smaller performances, this gives Downtown even more of a music scene.
Newport’s purchase of South Downtown buildings
This is at the bottom of the list, but its probably the thing that Downtowner’s are most excited about. After decades of little-to-no movement toward getting the lovely old buildings of South Downtown fixed up and filled with uses, here comes a German company to save the day. They’ve purchased at least two dozen structures, with plans to renovated many of them. There’s significant worry about the possibility of displacement for some beloved institutions like Mammal and Eyedrum — along with several small businesses that have stuck out the lean years. I hope the current crop of tenants can stay and enjoy the improvements.
What did I miss? I’m sure there are other urbanism highlights — add them in the comments section below!
