The highest concentration of construction cranes in Atlanta right now isn’t in towering Midtown or Buckhead—it’s on the western flank of downtown, at the doorstep of the city’s sports coliseums, where the soccer world is set to converge in a little more than a year. 

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to kick off in Atlanta in just 420 days (far out, man), a new section of Centennial Yards has risen from the former Gulch up to the level of elevated streets. Elsewhere on site, this coming summer is shaping up to be a big one. 

Centennial Yards Company broke ground last year an 8-acre, mixed-use entertainment hub anchored by a Cosm entertainment dome with a mid-rise hotel and fan plaza at the center. A multitude of cranes has now brought that component to level with Centennial Olympic Park Drive in places. Those buildings are scheduled to be finished in time for eight FIFA World Cup matches set to be played in Atlanta, beginning in June 2026, officials have said.

Meanwhile, the $5-billion megaproject’s first ground-up, new-construction towers to stand at max height are gearing up to open sooner. 

How Centennial Yards' new apartment tower (foreground) and high-rise hotel have stacked up next to The Benz downtown.

North view from downtown to Midtown, Buckhead, and beyond.

Just southwest of the entertainment district, Centennial Yards’ first new residential tower, the 304-unit The Mitchell, is undergoing interior and amenity buildouts after topping out in August. That building is on pace to open this summer, according to its website. 

Across the street, The Mitchell’s sibling project, the 292-key Hotel Phoenix, officially topped out in December and is targeting an opening sometime late this summer.

We reached out last week to Centennial Yards reps for construction updates on the above projects and others, such as a planned boutique hotel on Elliott Street, and this story will be updated with any additional details that come. [UPDATE: 4:19 p.m., April 21: Centennial Yards media reps send word Hotel Phoenix’s opening is now scheduled for fall 2025. Additionally, they note via email: “Construction is moving along as planned. The entrance to the Fan Plaza, directly across the street from State Farm Arean, has reached viaduct level and Cosm’s construction will be celebrating an exciting milestone shortly.”] 

Current plans for Centennial Yards call for more than 2,600 residential units to eventually be built, with 20 percent of those reserved as affordable housing. Elsewhere will be almost 3,000 hotel rooms in projects ranging from boutique to full-service, alongside more than 900,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space, according to the project’s most recent update.

The 50-acre remake of the former Gulch has been called by its financial backers one of the largest public-private partnerships in the U.S. right now.

The Phoenix hotel's elevated amenities level with a pool for guests is beginning to take shape over M.L.K. Jr. Drive.

Beneath a multitude of cranes, construction of Centennial Yards' entertainment hub has reached street level near State Farm Arena.

Centennial Yards’ infrastructure designs call for creating a dozen city blocks downtown, with a police mini precinct, a new fire station, and public greenspaces tucked among them. The project is considered a partnership between the Atlanta Development Authority, the City of Atlanta, and Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group, among other stakeholders. 

In the gallery above, see how it’s all coming together today, as the World Cup draws ever closer. 

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