Central Atlanta Progress/Downtown Atlanta Improvement District President A.J. Robinson has joined Mayor Andre Dickens in calling for MARTA to pause a $230 million overhaul of Five Points Station.
Calling the renovation plan “deeply flawed,” Robinson said MARTA’s unwillingness to halt the plan was just another example of its “lack of accountability to taxpayers and riders.” .
Axios first reported that Dickens sent a letter on June 6to MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood asking for additional information after reading the preliminary findings of an ongoing audit of More MARTA, the sales tax funding the Five Points makeover and the transit agency’s other future projects.
Dickens wrote that he wants to pause the project “until we are in receipt of the final report and engage in subsequent discussions together to determine the best possible path forward for MARTA and the City of Atlanta.”
Dickens said calculation errors found in the audit could require MARTA to repay $10 million to its expansion program for 202 and $59.9 million from 2017-21, and possibly more. The full audit is expected in July.
Greenwood replied to Dickens in a letter obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday the renovation, set to begin in July, would go forward.
“We have worked through all necessary agreements with our partners at the Federal Transit Administration/USDOT and have signed contractual obligations with multiple contractors,” Greenwood wrote. “Successful execution of any and all public construction projects requires thoughtful planning on the front end, robust public engagement throughout the process and fortitude to advance the project to completion.”
A spokesman for Dickens did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the AJC.
MARTA’s plan to renovate Five Points has met with derision from riders and city officials who decried the plan to have the central station closed during the 2026 World Cup matches.
MARTA said the station overhaul would mean “major service impacts” for riders, including closure of the station to pedestrians and relocation of bus routes.
Robinson said MARTA’s plan to remove the concrete canopy and replace it with a transparent top, leaving the bus bays intact and having no programming plan for the large plaza would invite the same issues the station faces today.
Robinson has recommended a “refresh” above the fare gates before the World Cup masses descend on Atlanta. “A refresh could include artistic lighting, murals, landscaping, safe pedestrian crossings on adjacent streets and active programming in the existing public spaces,” he said.
He also said that other Downtown stations – specifically Garnett, the Georgia World Congress Center and Mercedes-Benz Stadium station, and Vine City – could also get a refresh ahead of 2026.
Robinson noted that the region’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) line from Summerhill to Downtown will terminate on Broad Street between Five Points and Garnett Stations. He said the transfer between modes should be “pleasant and seamless”
He also noted that MARTA’s ridership ranks last among cities for post-pandemic ridership return. “Downtown is deserving of world-class transit stations, and significant investment is needed to make them clean, safe, and inviting,” Robinson said.
Asked what he would do to improve the station, Robinson told Rough Draft the station had been neglected since its completion in the mid-1970s.
“Five Points is the most visible station in the system and needs to be treated as such,” Robinson said. “Long term, that means the buses need to enter the station seamlessly and efficiently and not be parked on the adjacent streets like they are today.”
He said the plaza and adjacent entrances on all sides need to be treated as part of the station with a complete plan for maintenance and operations.
Read Robinson’s entire statement at this link.
