Stitch-Vision; Downtown tower; Atlanta Medical Center as mixed use?

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CITY CENTER—Plans for the only freeway paving project currently remaining in Downtown and Midtown are taking shape after the Connector Park concept officially dropped out of the running for local, state and nonprofit funding last month.

As Rough draft Atlanta Relay, project officials leading construction of Stitch downtown, released new details and renderings at a town hall event Wednesday showing how the park’s first 4.5-acre phase will cover the connector between Peachtree Street and Courtland Street, alongside improvements to existing street corridors. About $200 million is in the bank to get the project off the ground (engineering is currently underway), and construction on the first phase is slated to begin in either 2026 or 2027. But the projection for the full 14 acres to open is now 2036, pending funding.

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CITY CENTER– A towering, relatively affordable downtown proposal aimed at Atlanta’s low- and middle-income population that’s been three years in the making is showing concrete signs of life.

The Fulton County Development Authority will reportedly issue up to $370 million in state tax-exempt bonds to support the development of the Teachers Village Atlanta workforce housing project, according to the Atlanta Economic Chronicle.

The 98 Cone St. project, being implemented by a local partner of New Jersey-based real estate firm RBH Group, now calls for a total of 426 apartments, with approximately 26,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 9,000 square feet of in-building amenities.

RBH has called the 375-foot-tall downtown proposal a first for Georgia, as all of the apartments will be marketed as affordable housing options to teachers, other school employees and Atlanta seniors. More than half of the rental units are reserved for independent-living seniors, with the remaining units (about 200) considered workforce housing. Estimated rents were not provided.

Invest Atlanta approved over $30 million in bonds and grants in 2021 to develop the teacher-reserved housing. (See the latest renderings of Teachers Village and more project information here.)

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OLD FOURTH DISTRICT—The massive Old Fourth Ward complex that houses the former Atlanta Medical Center has been closed since Halloween 2002, marking nearly two years of inactivity, construction freezes, and deliberations about what could (or should) be done with it. But at some point in the future, the property may be headed for better, livelier days.

Talks about redevelopment are gaining momentum. The Wellstar Health System facility could become a typical mixed-use center with apartments, retail, office space and parks – but to the chagrin of some observers, without any medical use.

As the latest moratorium expires in October, the City Planning Department is sharing preliminary plans for a long-term redevelopment of the medical complex with neighbors as the AJC reports. No timeline was given, but the well-located site reportedly has the potential to house 2.4 million square feet of residential units. Elsewhere, 120,000 square feet of commercial and retail space and 240,000 square feet of office space would be proposed.

An 11-story hospital tower and other old buildings could be preserved and converted to mixed use, but demolition of other buildings alone would cost an estimated $25 million.

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CITYWIDE— In what could be good news for the vibrancy and housing options near the 22-mile Beltline circle and within a half-mile of MARTA stations, the Atlanta City Council will vote Tuesday to ban data center development in those areas. As Bisnow Atlanta reports, the individual measures (i.e. bans near the Beltline and MARTA hub) were supported by all City Council members, who generally think it’s a good idea to keep low-job server farms away from growth hotspots where housing and commercial opportunities could be created.

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