Show Versus Tell: Volume 1, Month 10

Our sole mission in South Downtown is to create a thriving and prosperous neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. We believe every great city in the world has an active, safe, clean, and vibrant downtown.

We are overdue; it’s Atlanta’s turn.

The power of Atlanta’s downtown economic pillars are flexing and in full swing. Victorious Falcons games. Atlanta United matches against Messi’s Miami. Weekly concerts at State Farm Arena. Our Hawks season tipping-off. It seems like several nights a week and every weekend talent and attractions bring a vast group of fans to our downtown. And then, there is the surprising midweek surge of badge-wearing conference attendees normally not making their way to South Downtown but still spotted walking in between the hotels on Peachtree Street, Centennial Olympic Park, and the Georgia World Congress Center.

Visitors come downtown.

How do we make it an experience they tell their best friend about?

Two insights observed from this busy season. First, the power of proximity. When I worked in Buckhead at the Atlanta Tech Village, going to a Hawks game, a concert, or any weekday event was a production. After working downtown for 10 months – walking distance to State Farm and the Benz – games and events are much more a way of life. A last minute invite or a quick decision to grab tickets in the cheap seats is way more doable being a 7 min walk away.

The other insight is how un-intuitive it is to get off MARTA at Five Points Station and try to work your way to South Downtown. The maze of stairs and escalators pushes you to the west side of the station at Forsyth and the last place anyone wants to go is near 143 Alabama; the dilapidated yet structurally beautiful brick building that hasn’t been used in 50 years (even though there are rays of hope appearing ). Today, MARTA riders walk north towards Marietta Street and follow the crowds past Hudson Grille towards the Benz and State Farm.

How do we get the constant stream of MARTA riders to actually walk down Broad Street? That is a question we’re constantly asking ourselves. ?

SAFETY & SECURITY

As always, we start with Safety and Security.

One simple answer to the question above is safety. As the economic engine of downtown revs so does crime. This can’t be sugar coated. The corner of Upper Alabama from Peachtree Street to Forsyth Street has too much crime. Two shootings and a stabbing occurred just in October. This is unacceptable.

Our annual private dollar investment runs over $1M a year in additional security measures ranging from 24/7 off-duty APD officers, to Skylar Security, to Flock Safety, Ring and Verkada cameras. Maximizing every resource is critical to ensure the safety of everyone in South Downtown as quickly as possible.

There are too many people selling drugs. There are too many people smoking crack in the middle of the day. There is too much loitering.

Crime surrounds our busiest and most active MARTA station, which is detrimental to the future success of our city. We are working together with APD, ADID, and Lelani Ventures with Underground Atlanta to coordinate efforts to bring a brighter light to what is going on at Upper Alabama.

Thank you to Major Singh, Officer Blue, Officer DeForest, and several other brave APD officers who are working around the clock to make sure South Downtown is as safe as possible. ?

COMMUNITY

We painted some new signs as reminders to all our neighbors in the federal buildings surrounding us that coffee, food, and art is just beyond their doorstep.

Speaking of fresh paint, our largest and most prominent mural in the neighborhood got a fresh coat of paint by the French artist, Tilt , who originally painted the mural twelve years ago as part of the Office of Cultural Affairs annual event, Elevate.

Approximately twenty Atlantans in the know on what to do and how to do it gathered for a weekend brunch catered by Chef Bella. We sipped champagne and toured the neighborhood with all the talented social media creators and storytellers. Here are some pictures. ? ?

Venture Atlanta came and went but not without two busloads of attendees walking through the neighborhood .

Leasing work continues to take up a large portion of our time and resources. Rightfully so! We are working with and courting several engaged future tenants but no announcements this month.

We just announced a new set of community tours between now and the end of the year. Sign up today!

DEVELOPMENT

Major news on the development front:

After four years in the making, we completed a vital land swap with Fulton County. When October started, the one acre corner lot at Forsyth and Mitchell had over 40 Fulton County trucks and cars sitting there. We swapped a parking lot we have on Peachtree Street with the Forsyth and Mitchell Lot. Now we can tear down the barbed-wire, chain-linked fence and begin planning the next iteration of that parcel.

We also gained greater clarity on the 222 Mitchell plan. We engaged with BLDGS, the home based architects who know more about the buildings than any other architect in the country. They are designing and calculating how many residential units we can fit into the mothership of South Downtown. April Stammel shares more in a video update here . ?

Interior demo clean up and clean out continues at 191 Mitchell, 185 Mitchell, 82 Peachtree, 85 Peachtree, 142 Mitchell (recent video taken ) and 222 Mitchell is going through a major cleanup and shore up of the site that has been sitting vacant for eighteen months. ?

Each week is a treasure hunt of new architectural finds. This month we uncovered tile flooring of Empire Clothing Company and Schlitz Distributors. (follow us on Instagram for more history on Empire Clothing Company soon!)

Every day we uncover something new that we treasure in this new chapter.

Until next month!

Jon Birdsong

CEO, SoDo Atlanta, LLC