Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLSkyPalaceOwner
So I've only been here a couple of years and I hope someone can enlighten me. How did it come about that almost all of the high rise activity came about to the east of the freeway but there's comparatively little to the west of the freeway?
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I suppose you mean north of North Avenue? If we're being precise, downtown and all its high rises are west of The Connector. Starting with North Avenue and to the west of The Connector, there is Georgia Tech which limits development and north of that is Turner's campus. Around Turner's Campus is single family neighborhoods, but you do get development west of The Connector at Atlantic Station.
You would also have to consider that side of the highway has always been "rougher" with projects just south of Georgia Tech being demolished for the Olympics and notorious neighborhoods like Vine City and English Avenue being relatively close by.
Another major consideration is there is still a lot of open space in Atlanta and, relatively, it's cheap to build on. There's no reason to develop tall buildings in (relatively) undesirable areas when you have concentrations, and desirable, areas like Midtown and Buckhead. The Westside or West Midtown or whatever you want to call it is relatively new.