For the past dozen years, the long-dormant Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center property hasn’t exactly been associated with swift construction progress. But that’s recently changed.

Nine months after its official groundbreaking, the first example of new construction at the multi-block Old Fourth Ward site has fully topped out at 251 Pine St., with window installation and facade work underway now. 

The progress follows more than a decade of scrapped plans, dashed hopes, and design alterations for one of the last massive development sites left in central Midtown and downtown. 

Property owners Atlanta Housing are leading development of the first Civic Center component: a 148-unit apartment building reserved for low-income seniors expected to cost $60 million. 

The project has risen on the northeast section of the Civic Center property, across the street from Renaissance Park, and will include a 1,642-square-foot retail café space and parking deck. 

In years past, the property in question has staged Shaky Knees concerts and other festivals. 

Progress on the construction project in question at 251 Pine St. in Old Fourth Ward, as seen this week. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Overview of the 19-acre Atlanta Civic Center site, with the general location of the first apartment component pictured at upper right on Pine Street. Google Maps/Urbanize Atlanta

The one-bedroom rentals will each be roughly 600 square feet, per earlier filings. The majority of the apartments (118) will be reserved for renters earning 60 percent of the Area Median Income or less, while the remaining homes will rent for 50 percent AMI at most. 

Atlanta Housing, which acquired the Civic Center property in 2017, has said the first apartments are scheduled to be available onsite in the third quarter of 2027. No timeline for development beyond the first building has been specified. 

Atlanta Housing is partnering on the Civic Center job with developers The Michaels Organization, Sophy Capital, and Republic Properties Corporation. 

The Pine Street building's eastern facade, facing away from downtown. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Phase one plans call for constructing this mix of senior housing and retail north of the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. Michaels Organization, Sophy Capital, Republic Family of Companies, via ADID

The Civic Center, a New Formalist landmark, was designed by Harold Montague of Robert & Co. and opened in 1965 as a home base for the arts near downtown. Positioned along the western edge of Old Fourth Ward, the building has hosted the Metropolitan Opera, Theater of the Stars, Atlanta Opera, and more recently television shows such as Steve Harvey’s Family Feud. But it’s been empty and idle, apart from some concerts and events, since 2014.

That’s not to say it hasn’t attracted big ideas. 

In 2016, Texas developer Weingarten Realty abandoned efforts to singlehandedly transform the Civic Center site into a mixed-use hub with some 650 housing units and a Publix grocery. 

Two years later, preservation group Historic Atlanta led a push to ensure historically significant structures on site—including the 4,600-seat auditorium, with what’s thought to be Georgia’s largest stage—weren’t destined to be razed. 

Today, entrances to that Performing Arts Center and an adjacent Exhibition Hall are anchored by a formal plaza and fountain that “continue the tradition of cultural institutions serving as both an iconic landmark and public amenity for urban residents,” as Atlanta Housing has described the property layout.

Aerial of the centerpiece Performing Arts Center, which will be retained. Historic Atlanta; 2018

In summer 2022, the Civic Center’s plight took another strange turn when New York-based developer Tishman Speyer backed out of plans to partner with Atlanta’s H.J. Russel & Co. to transform the property. Plans to break ground on the current project in 2024 were also delayed. 

Eventually, plans call for remaking the 19-acre site in the shadows of both downtown and Midtown into a vibrant intown node with walkability to transit, parks, and other perks. 

Long-term redevelopment calls for 1,500 mixed-income apartments alongside a grocery store, hotel, retail, communal spaces, and offices. The historic 1960s Performing Arts Center building, a cornerstone of the property, will be preserved, but its exact future use hasn’t been determined. 

For about two years, fencing around the Civic Center site has been wrapped in rendering-heavy banners with “The Excitement is Building” messaging. Perhaps that’s more accurate now. 

Swing up to the gallery for more images and context. 

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