CNN Center as apartments; blight fight; Midtown 'Green House' sells

…

DOWNTOWN—The former CNN Center’s pre-FIFA World Cup transformation into a restaurant and bar hub and 12-stall, Robert Montwaid-curated food hall could be just the beginning. 

Plans are nascent, but coming years could see The CTR ATL (aka, The CTR, or The Center) converted into a new hub of apartments, hotel uses, and affordable housing for downtown’s workforce, according to owners CP Group, as Rough Draft Atlanta reports. 

Currently empty units (think of those overlooking the soaring atrium) are being described as easily convertible, relatively speaking. 

Meanwhile, Atlanta News First reports the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority is weighing the possibility of buying The CTR for roughly $200 million, using bond funding and no existing city or county taxes or revenues. The tentative deal goes that CP Group would pitch in $200 to $300 million for renovations and stay aboard as property operators, with the recreation authority receiving a percentage of profits, per the news station.

The CTR is slated to open its initial food-and-beverage component in late May, but some 90 percent of the property will still be vacant at the outset. 

…

CITYWIDE—The City of Atlanta is pushing legislation forward meant to give teeth to the blight law enacted in the summer of 2024, in hopes of reducing derelict properties and lifting up neighborhoods, per officials.

Mayor Andre Dickens’ office announced legislation Monday, as sponsored by Atlanta City Council member Byron D. Amos, that aims to strengthen the “blight tax”—also called the community redevelopment ad valorem tax—to help fight blighted properties. The new legislation will expand the city’s “legal toolkit” against blight, per its backers. It applies only to vacant property. 

City officials call the blight tax an important means—alongside city-level judicial in rem and nuisance prosecution powers, as well as condemnation and Code Enforcement citations and cases—to stop vacant homes and commercial properties from dragging down neighborhoods’ marketability and property values while encouraging crime. 

Properties that meet criteria for blighted conditions, per the law, will see property taxes hiked by 25 times; owners will have a limited time to remedy blighted conditions before the tax burden activates, per city officials. 

Since the city council passed an ordinance authorizing the increased taxes in 2024, multiple city departments have been coordinating to put together an implementation plan and pick the City Solicitor as the Public Officer (aka enforcer). That’s culminated in the recent introduction of the blight tax legislation, per officials. (It also helps explain why our repeated inquiries to the city regarding the blight law’s effectiveness have gone unanswered.) 

City of Atlanta residents are encouraged to call 311 to report blighted property to Code Enforcement. City officials plan to monitor the program’s outcomes for the first year and then refine its approach in order to expand the blight-tax efforts to more properties and neighborhoods, per this week’s announcement. 

“This legislation sends a clear message: If you own property in Atlanta, you have a responsibility to maintain it,” Dickens said in a prepared statement. “We will use every tool at our disposal to hold negligent property owners accountable and revitalize communities that have experienced decades of disinvestment.”

“We’re eager to continue addressing the most egregious cases of property neglect in our communities,” added City Solicitor Raines Carter, whose office prosecutes blight. “I encourage residents to contact 311 to report instances of blight to Code Enforcement, which is a prerequisite for the city and our office to take action.”

…

MIDTOWN—A Midtown home described by sellers as both iconic and ahead-of-its-time in several respects has quietly traded hands a block from Piedmont Park. 

The contemporary-style Midtown “Green House” at 292 Ninth St. sold recently for $2.05 million in an off-market transaction to Matthew Doyle, a Compass agent known for expertise in Atlanta modern homes. Adam Ellis of Sotheby’s International Realty, also a longtime Midtown resident, represented the seller. “It’s a very local, relationship-driven deal involving a home that’s been part of Midtown’s design conversation for years,” a Compass rep noted in an email to Urbanize Atlanta. 

The airy, window-bedecked dwelling counts three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,686 square feet, beneath a fairly massive rooftop deck. It was designed by Atlanta-based Joel Kelly Design and built in 2010, incorporating sustainability features such as geothermal, solar, and rainwater collection. 

It’ll be part of the Midtown Garden Stroll on May 17. Find a sneak peek in the gallery above. 

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Interactive map shows home-value disparity across ATL neighborhoods (Urbanize Atlanta)