Dazzling imagery came to light this week showing acreage around Friendship Baptist Church, a downtown Atlanta cornerstone, reborn as vibrant plazas, buzzy restaurant patios, and numerous compelling buildings of varying scales. 

The vision for “Downtown West,” however, won’t be coming to fruition. But the plans do illustrate what could be possible on underused land between historic universities and the city’s sports coliseums in the future. 

Downtown West renderings and site plans were published this week by Relm Studio, a Los Angeles-based landscape architecture firm that worked on the project a couple of years ago with designers HKS and Moody Nolan. Clients are listed as Friendship Baptist Church—Atlanta’s first autonomous Black Baptist congregation, established in 1862—and The Peebles Corporation. 

Friendship Baptist Church, which uprooted and built its new facility at 80 Walnut St. to make way for Mercedes-Benz Stadium eight years ago, had issued a Request for Proposals seeking redevelopment ideas for 19 acres owned by the church around its sanctuary.  

Overview of the proposal's centralized commons area and amphitheater. Courtesy of Relm Studio, in collaboration with HKS/Moody Nolan

Rough overview of the acreage around Friendship Baptist Church today and proximity to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Google Maps

The formerly residential sites are just southwest of The Benz, blocks from the HBCUs of the Atlanta University Center Consortium. 

The church’s ambitions called for “a new model of neighborhood development” centered on the concepts of “live-collaborate-enjoy,” linking the “cultural heritage of West Atlanta and the [HBCUs] to downtown,” per architects. 

The Relm/HKS/Moody Nolan vision called for a Downtown West with several housing types—faculty, mixed-income, market-rate, independent living, assisted living, and standard family units. Other facets would have seen offices, retail, and a hotel. 

High-density uses envisioned as part of the Downtown West concept. Courtesy of Relm Studio, in collaboration with HKS/Moody Nolan

Courtesy of Relm Studio, in collaboration with HKS/Moody Nolan

In terms of public spaces and programming, Downtown West would have been highlighted by a sloping “Front Porch” section with an amphitheater and plazas, linking the church to basically the doorstep of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United coliseum. 

But alas, the plans were not to be. 

According to Scott Baker, a Relm founding principal, the Downtown West concept “died” sometime after the submittal deadline in early 2023, and plans have been shelved since. 

“There was some disruption within the church that caused it to stall,” Baker wrote via email this week. 

Nonetheless, in the gallery above, find a closer look at the ambitious vision for Downtown West. 

Courtesy of Relm Studio, in collaboration with HKS/Moody Nolan

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