Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District has unveiled renderings and details of an ambitious project called The Stitch that would reconnect Downtown and its streets broken by I-75/85.
The transformative project envisions capping the Downtown Connector by constructing a ¾-mile platform over the interstate, extending from the Civic Center MARTA station at West Peachtree Street to Piedmont Avenue. On top of the platform would be new greenspace, homes, office buildings, hotels and more.
With the Civic Center set for demolition, the MARTA station would be renamed Emory Square and become a key transit hub for the city, including a regional bus terminal.
Emory Square would connect St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on the west to a re-imagined MARTA station, Emory University’s future Medical Arts Institute building and new retail and residential areas.
Peachtree Green would be a 3-acre town green with water features, a restaurant and café, a pavilion space for markets and art shows, an art walk, a “Mayor’s Walk,” and a civic heroes memorial.
Energy Park would be a mixed-use residential area intertwined with an urban park made up of lawns, a dog park, playground, water features, a splash pad, a flex-use pavilion, and a garden walk. Its location next to Georgia Power’s headquarters will provide opportunities to use green construction and power technologies.
The estimated $300 million project is still conceptual, so a construction schedule has not been determined. CAP sad the next steps to advance the plan will include completing a detailed civil engineering survey, a technical feasibility study and a schematic design.