Norcross residents drove down I-85 on June 4 to see the ongoing transformation of 10 blocks in South Downtown Atlanta into an open-container district in time for the FIFA World Cup.
Atlanta Ventures owns 56 buildings across 16 acres in the city’s historic downtown, and is in the process of completing phase one construction. While everything may not be finished and open before Atlanta’s World Cup games, a couple of blocks are ready to welcome thousands.
Norcross community leader Chuck Paul organized a June 4 tour with SoDo Atlanta CEO Jon Birdsong, who introduced visitors to the $140 million million revitalization project. Tours can be scheduled here.
Many storefronts along Mitchell Street are open, and hundreds of construction workers are still preparing the district for tenants and residents. The district includes multiple blocks off Peachtree, Broad, and Forsyth streets, southwest of the Five Points MARTA station.
“In 2016, a group of Germans came into Atlanta,” Birdsong said. “They spent seven years, a pandemic, and $248 million acquiring 10 city blocks. In March of 2023, they walked off the property and got a one-way ticket back to Berlin.”
Retrofitting historical downtown
Birdsong said Atlanta-based tech entrepreneur David Cummings approached him in October 2023 about acquiring the buildings and taking over the revitalization project. Less than three months later, Cummings’ Atlanta Ventures acquired 10 blocks of mostly historic buildings across the railroad tracks from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We’ve been in a massive sprint for this month, and beyond,” Birdsong told Norcross residents. “We’ve got a team of 14 that are working around the clock … seven general contractors, 10 architects, and when we walk down Broad Street, you’ll see what’s going on.”
Apartments at 85 Peachtree, offices at the South Broad Street Atlanta Tech Center, and quick-serve retail spaces are being leased, with some tenants already on board, Birdsong said.
A new pocket park, Founders Green, opened in late May at 110 Broad Street, replacing an outdated surface parking lot. Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens cut the ribbon.
The SoDo Atlanta team said loitering, crime, and drug activity around the Five Points MARTA station have significantly improved in the last three months. The group has added security officers, 180 monitored cameras, and robotic dogs around the 10-block neighborhood.
“There’s been such a culture of loitering, and basically doing whatever you want here for 30 years,” Birdsong said. “It’s night and day, very effective.”
Long-term neighborhood vision
Recognizing the district’s potential, Spain’s soccer federation selected a space at 186 Mitchell Street for its World Cup home base, Casa España, in the heart of South Downtown’s open-container district.
It’s the first neighborhood in the city where residents and visitors can traverse public sidewalks and streets with an alcoholic drink in hand.
Birdsong said in a June 3 newsletter, Show Versus Tell, that he gets a lot of questions about when restaurants are opening. Several across the neighborhood have, and more are days away, including El Tesoro, Broad Street BBQ, Glide Pizza, and Brewhouse Pub.
“When talking with folks about the new restaurants opening, many locals quickly ask the follow-up question: ‘Are these all pop-ups for the World Cup?'” Birdsong wrote. “Undoubtedly, they were scarred from the Olympics and the exhale that lasted too long afterwards. I reiterate, these are all multi-year leases, and the World Cup is just a phenomenal opportunity to turbo sprint from the start.”
Birdsong and Cummings, both Atlanta natives, are calling the investment into the city’s urban core “a generational endeavor.”
“After the World Cup, we’ll be leaning into our downtown workers, students, residents, visitors and curious locals to continue the support,” Birdsong wrote. “Until then, we are savoring each day and every exchange as we realize this is a generational endeavor, that just so happens to align with a world-renowned event.”
