Permitting activity this month indicates another downtown tower is moving toward groundbreaking within earshot of Centennial Olympic Park.

Developer HarDam Hotels is planning a 19-story Residence Inn by Marriott that would claim an empty corner lot kitty-corner from the park’s north end at 355 Centennial Olympic Park Drive.

The Niles Bolton Associates-designed plans call for 185 hotel rooms and roughly 4,000 square feet of retail, according to documentation related to site work.  

The hotel building would stand two stories taller than Kaplan Residential’s Generation Atlanta apartment stack, located one parcel north.

That 17-story project finished construction last July, offering 336 rentals.

The .8-acre, corner hotel site just north of the World of Coca-Cola and other Centennial Olympic Park attractions. Google Maps

As shown in 2021, the proposal at 355 Centennial Olympic Park Drive NW—when it was expected to rise 19 stories. Niles Bolton Associates, via City of Atlanta Planning Department/WNA

A 10-story Candlewood Suites was briefly planned for the same corner site two years ago, permit filings show. What Now Atlanta reported last month the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled that idea.

The Marriott venture is another sign of developer optimism for blocks around downtown’s marquee park and events space.

The hotel would join another hospitality venture, the 22-story Margaritaville resort condo building by Wyndham Destinations, that's finishing construction of 200 suites and two floors of retail near SkyView Atlanta now.

A block from there, a 32-story student housing tower project by Landmark Properties and AECOM-Canyon Partners is rising. And RBH Group’s 31-story Teachers Village tower is angling toward groundbreaking soon, as that development firm told Urbanize Atlanta last week.

How the Residence Inn by Marriott was planned to look from the northeast corner of downtown's marquee greenspace, per 2021 renderings. Niles Bolton Associates, via City of Atlanta Planning Department/WNA

• Recent downtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)