2022 is barely in the history books, but community and business leaders across Atlanta’s development epicenter are already hailing it as a banner year.
Midtown Alliance reports that 2022 saw a record amount of new office, residential, and hotel space come together across a subdistrict where construction cranes have been all but ubiquitous for a decade.
More specifically, according to Midtown Alliance’s tabulations, “six major development projects” were delivered in 2022 across one square mile. Those included the three-building Midtown Union complex, the Novel Midtown apartments and an adjacent office tower on Spring Street, and the first piece of the SCAD Forty Four project in Midtown’s northernmost blocks, among others.
A similar report last year found that Midtown had packed on more than 5,100 residential units in 2021, in terms of deliveries and construction starts—the most ever in a calendar year. Now, roughly 65 developments have delivered in Midtown the past decade alone.
A graphic compiled by Midtown Alliance in December 2021 showing buildings delivered since roughly 2010 (blue), with others under construction (green) at the time, or in the development review process (orange) in Midtown alone. Midtown Alliance
The titanic growth suggests Midtown’s upward trajectory—even when whacked by a global pandemic—hardly skipped a beat.
Over the past 24 months, Midtown’s core has seen (deep breath) 4.2 million square feet of office space, 6,500 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail, and roughly 900 hotel rooms either delivered or start construction.
“We believe this is the most development activity Midtown has ever experienced over a 24-month period,” Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance president and CEO, said in a 2022 recap distributed this week. “And in a place that has been as active as Midtown over the last two-plus decades, that’s saying something.”
Midtown construction activity near the Spring and 10th streets intersection in November.
Midtown Alliance, a nonprofit membership organization and coalition of business and community heads, is striking a reflective tone in advance of their 46th annual meeting, scheduled February 8 at the Fox Theatre. More than 900 civic, community, and business leaders are expected to attend, with tickets set at $75 for member organizations and $100 for other guests.
Anna Muessig, director of Gehl Studio, is scheduled to give 2023’s keynote address. The topic du jour will involve how all the new investment in Midtown can be channeled into creating an actual community and what Green calls “a compelling urban experience at street-level.”
Midtown Alliance has partnered with Gehl Studio, which has offices in New York and San Francisco, to put together a “comprehensive public life action plan” for Midtown that “aligns the interests of building owners, design, economic development strategies, social cohesion, transportation goals, and more,” per this week's announcement.
To that end, Midtown Alliance says 2022 improvement projects at street level—such as the functional Commercial Row Commons and doggie haven 10th Street Temporary Park—added 40,000 square feet of public space.
Another 10 capital projects are under construction, out for bid, or scheduled to be bid during the first half of 2023, with a cost estimate of $35 million, per Midtown Alliance.
...
Follow us on social media:
• Midtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)
