Film and television studios surrounded by a performing arts center, a hotel, and a mix of residential, office and retail could transform the Atlanta Civic Center property in Downtown/Old Fourth Ward into a regional tourist destination.
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the mixed-use proposal is one of the more ambitious concepts to emerge so far as the city prepares to put the 19-acre Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center site on the market. Local real estate development firm Carter is proposing the concept.
In June, the Atlanta City Council voted to sell the Civic Center, turning the 380,000-square-foot space over to its economic development arm, Invest Atlanta to seek bids from developers. Despite recent upgrades, the 47-year-old building at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Ralph McGill Boulevard has been a drain on city resources. The city also recently bought out the lease on Underground Atlanta and is hoping to sell it for redevelopment as well.
I like the idea, but wording in the first sentence turned me off of it, specifically that the project could turn the site into “a regional tourist destination”. Atlanta is trying way too hard to be a tourist destination. People travel to great cities to see their architecture, neighborhoods, great structures, historic places, public spaces, museums, natural beauty. These also happen to be the things that attract people to live work and play in great cities. How about develop this site as a great place for Atlantans to live, visit, have in their neighborhood, work at, rather than focus on creating another “tourist destination?”