Images: Atlanta's tallest new hotel in almost 40 years will soon top out

Seems like only yesterday, back before Thanksgiving, that Atlanta’s tallest hotel in ages was merely half-built, in terms of sheer height.

A few months later, the Signia by Hilton Atlanta hotel is just days from topping out, with an expected grand opening within a year, officials tell Urbanize Atlanta.

According to Georgia World Congress Center spokesman Randy Lieberman, a topping-out ceremony is planned for the 40-story Signia on March 28, marking a milestone after a year of construction and a significant addition to downtown’s skyline. (Fun fact: The hotel became taller than Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door once it surpassed level 32; all eight levels above that will look down on the stadium.)

The Signia project in spring 2023, as seen towering over The Benz from Portman's Sora at Spring Quarter in Midtown. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

GWCC officials say the Signia is Atlanta’s tallest ground-up new hotel in almost 40 years, set to stand 453 feet over the repurposed footprint of the Georgia Dome. (Built in 1985, the 52-story, John Portman-designed Marriott Marquis stands about 120 feet higher.)

In an announcement today, GWCC officials point out the 975-room hotel will be the tallest building on Atlanta’s Westside. That room-count ranks it between the fifth largest hotel in Atlanta (Omni Atlanta Hotel: 1,038 rooms) and the current sixth (Sheraton Atlanta Hotel: 749 rooms).

The glassy, flat-topped Signia joins a groundswell of new construction around the Gulch this year, with much more expected in advance of the 2026 World Cup.

The Signia will be Atlanta’s fifth tallest all-hotel tower. That category is led by the 73-story Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, another Portman building completed in 1976 that's still Atlanta’s fifth-tallest building overall.

The Signia hotel remains on schedule to open in mid-January next year, Lieberman said.

The Signia by Hilton project constructing its final stories in early March. Courtesy of GWCC

Overview of the Signia property and Home Depot Backyard tailgate zone, in the former Georgia Dome's footprint.Courtesy of Georgia World Congress Center; designs, Gensler

The Signia project, which will be owned by GWCCA, also calls for 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space around the property, a restaurant, bar, and top-shelf wellness amenities, per Hilton. It will be the most visible part of the GWCCA’s 2020 Vision master plan, a sweeping campus redo.

But the path toward topping out hasn’t been without turbulence.

The Gensler-designed hotel was on track to launch construction in late spring 2020, just after Atlanta’s planned (and cancelled) NCAA Final Four basketball crowds had cleared out of downtown. But COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and subsequent economic instability derailed that timeline.

Hotel lobby entrance and proximity to The Benz. Courtesy of Georgia World Congress Center; designs, Gensler