Concrete plans are starting to emerge for how downtown Atlanta’s ambitious, highway-capping greenspace project might initially come together.
That’s the word this week from project spearhead Central Atlanta Progress, which reports the Stitch initiative has now tallied $42.3 million in total funding as a community visioning process is on the horizon.
The Stitch’s planning team has broken down phase one to 4.5 acres of interstate-capping infrastructure that would span between Peachtree and Courtland streets. That’s just east of MARTA’s Civic Center station.
Early engineering for phase one is underway now, and plans also call for multimodal street, safety, and aesthetic improvements across the area in question, according to CAP officials.
Project leaders expect the Stitch master planning process to be complete in summer 2024.
Central Atlanta Progress
The planning and design team pulling the initial phase together is led by WSP, Hargraves Jones, the City of Atlanta, and yes the Georgia Department of Transportation, among other partners, per CAP.
What remains TBD at this point are specifics for phase one's greenspace and streets.
To help gather public input, the Stitch team has announced a Community Kick-Off and Visioning Workshop will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (435 Peachtree Street NE). The church would neighbor the 14-acre, 3/4th-mile Stitch project should it come together as planned.
The two-hour workshop’s purpose is to allow the public to “help shape the goals and objectives that will build a more vibrant future for Atlanta and its residents,” according to CAP.
The Stitch’s “Peachtree Green” section would reconnect a downtown street grid and create an active greenspace, setting the stage for park-oriented, high-rise development. Thestitchatl.com
The $42.3 million in Stitch funding has been pulled together since 2021 from federal sources and local matching coffers. CAP leaders say that amount will fully fund planning, concept engineering, and environmental due diligence for the entire project.
“With these elements of the project completely funded and underway,” CAP’s project update newsletter reads this week, “the team is pivoting their fundraising focus to capital construction.”
Specially, that includes more than $157 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation—in the form of a FY23 Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant—that would fund construction of phase one. The Stitch’s planning team applied for that money in September.
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