[smArTaLlone]

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...Pos=1#cxrecs_s

Another giant project is being envisioned for Downtown Atlanta, according to a newly unveiled master plan.

This week, state officials viewed plans to transform more than 20 acres of surface parking lots that line Downtown’s sprawling convention center with new housing, hotel rooms, retail space and offices. They could link a piece of the redevelopment to the Atlanta BeltLine.

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) could infuse the state-owned land with more than $1 billion of new development. The goal: boost its convention business and build up Atlanta’s Westside.

The project would fill in gaps within the urban fabric. GWCCA Executive Director Frank Poe said the massive convention center along Northside Drive should no longer look like "an island unto itself but part of a larger planned development.”

Atlanta-based architecture firm HKS Inc. is leading the master plan for the GWCCA. This week it presented recommendations to one of the agency's committees.

Master plan considers sites the state already owns
The master plan looks at four development opportunities. One targets the Blue Lot, a surface parking lot along Northside Drive. Another focuses on the Yellow Lot and an adjacent marshaling yard along Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. The master plan also considers property next to MARTA's GWCC/CNN Center station.

GWCCA said it has not discussed funding sources or whether to bring in development partners.