The 8 biggest WTF moments in Atlanta development this year

After hundreds of news stories covering metro Atlanta real estate, transportation, architecture, and other aspects of the built environment, our research team has painstakingly whittled down the coverage and determined the following to officially be the most WTF moments of 2022. 

If there's something we've missed, please drop a note in the comments. Now, without further ado ... 

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^ 8. When renderings for a Midtown high-rise proposal took funky parking-garage screening to the next level—and then three floors above that.

7. When real estate data company Clever declared Atlanta the third-worst city for bicycling in America. The study’s methodology appeared solid, but it begged the question: WTF?!?

^ 6. When a company called Crystal Lagoons unveiled plans (and hired a local development team) to create four to six gigantic, tropical swimming and recreation destinations around metro Atlanta soon. What it’ll cost to enter these PALs (aka, “Public Access Lagoons”) remains to be seen, but in the meantime, cowabunga!

5. When a posh new subdivision was announced beside a Milton golf course—with starting home prices at $5 million! Project leaders with SitePoint Development Group called the price point appealing to well-off Californians and others eying the Atlanta suburbs for relocations. It’ll certainly buy a lot of property, with just six lots divided across 3 acres.

^ 4. When the Atlanta BeltLine announced in October the last missing segment of the Westside Trail is moving toward construction (hurray!) but that it’s going to take up to two and ½ half years to build the 1.3-mile trail, a crucial link into downtown (WTF!). That’s almost exactly how long it took the Braves’ $672-million Cobb County stadium to break ground and host its first game.

^ 3. When the Midtown Connector concept—one of three highway-capping park ideas angling to become real between downtown and Buckhead—unveiled plans in September for a towering canopy structure that’d be like a ’roided-up statement piece not seen in Atlanta since the Olympics. Here’s hoping monied donors foot the bill, because this thing could make the “iconic” downtown Ferris wheel look quaint in national broadcasts.

2. When a townhome project in Bankhead saw prices climb up to $840,000.

^ 1. When an unproven local company unveiled plans in Clayton County for an $800-million mega-project like a piece of Qatar at what’s now a vacant Ingles shopping center on Jonesboro Road. The Roman, as the concept is called, would span 26 acres and be anchored by a 7,500-seat amphitheater, with three wavy high-rises around it.

Kudus for the ambitious plans in a section of the metro that could benefit from development of such scale—but WTF? Jacques Roman, Roman United’s CEO and founder, cancelled a scheduled interview with Urbanize in September, when we hoped to learn more about how this might all be pulled off.

• The most popular stories of 2022 (Urbanize Atlanta)