OLD FOURTH WARD—During a communal forum held in Sweet Auburn on Thursday, MARTA officials left little doubt: The Atlanta Streetcar is being extended to Ponce City Market, via the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail—under orders from the mayor’s office to make that two-mile extension a priority project, as the AJC reports.
Alongside MARTA leaders and city government officials, the forum was attended by streetcar proponents, such as BeltLine Rail Now chair Matthew Rao, who feel the light-rail addition is a crucial transportation alternative in a growing city that would bring the BeltLine’s full initial vision closer to reality. Opponents, meanwhile, fear the $230-million project is another boondoggle waiting to happen—one that won’t benefit residents and will impeded intown transportation more than solve its woes.
Said Rao at the meeting: “Is what we want a city full of more traffic and parking? I say no. We want the original vision of the BeltLine, to bring equity.” Countered Fred Duncan, an Old Fourth Ward resident and BeltLine rail naysayer, as quoted by the newspaper: “The city is wanting to marry one of the best things it’s ever done, the BeltLine, with one of the worst things it’s ever done, the streetcar… And it’s not a marriage made in heaven.”
Regardless, MARTA project manager Bryan Hobbs told the meeting that all signs point to the five-stop streetcar extension breaking ground next year. MARTA’s timeline calls for the first passengers boarding in 2027.
…
DOWNTOWN—A downtown Atlanta structure that few will miss is preparing to meet its maker.
Bisnow Atlanta reports CIM Group and its local branch, Centennial Yards Company, have filed plans with the city to bulldoze the drab, windowless building attached to 2 City Plaza downtown where the AJC was long printed. CIM took control of the empty building, which lords over MARTA tracks in the Gulch’s northernmost section, through a land-swap with the city five years ago.
The project's main entrance. DBOX for Centennial Yards
CIM’s goal in wiping away the printing press building is to set the stage for the megaproject’s first office component, a collection of “three slender towers” called One Centennial Yards.
Despite earlier projections that the office tower(s) could break ground in 2022, Centennial Yards president Brian McGowan told Bisnow that section of Gulch won’t see building activity until a significant pre-lease is signed with an office tenant—which means, given current market conditions, it’ll likely be next year at the earliest before cranes move in. Talks with potential tenants are ongoing, however, McGowan said.
…
DORAVILLE—In other paused development news, Assembly Atlanta developer Gray Television says it won’t move forward—for now—with building aspects of its planned mixed-use campus and studios that would make the project more beneficial to the general public: housing, hotel rooms, eateries, and shops.
The Atlanta-based TV broadcast company plans to open a spread of 19 soundstages modeled after places around the world, Assembly Studios, in June. But according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the rest of the 135-acre vision will have to wait. Gray Television’s CEO and board chair Hilton Howell said last week that “macroeconomic concern about real estate,” including supply issues, has prompted project leaders to take “a break.” The focus now, said Howell, is finishing the studios, which the company expects to be profitable from the outset.
A recent aerial showing how studio facades are shaping up in Doraville. Assembly Atlanta; @assemblyatlanta
Officials have previously said Assembly Studios’ next phases will include 120 condos and townhomes, 800 apartments, 250,000 square feet of retail, two hotels with 350 rooms combined, and about 1 million square feet of offices. Also in the mix, per early plans: a nondenominational wedding chapel, 5,000-seat civic arena, and a conference center.
…
DOWNTOWN—A long-vacant corner lot near the Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Olympic Park where various development proposals have sputtered could be filled with a Marriott Moxy-branded hotel, according to plans filed with the city and supplied to Urbanize Atlanta.
At last check, a team led by RevPAR Companies was putting together plans in early 2022 for the .35-acre site at 329 Marietta Street. The parcel is bordered on two sides by a parking deck where Marietta Street meets Latimer Street, across the street from Der Biergarten restaurant.
Marriott opened another hotel under the same flag, the Moxy Atlanta Midtown, on 14th Street in 2019, just in time for the last Super Bowl hosted in Atlanta.
A revised rendering for plans brought to the city by RevPAR Companies last year. Elevate Architecture Studio
...
Follow us on social media:
• Downtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)
