South Downtown Redevelopment

[ArchKid]

Originally Posted by Sojourner_Terminus

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Jon Birdsong, the Tech Square guy who bought all these properties has said they are only going to build residential to 6 stories "human-scale" development.

Its my understanding that they are changing tack from what Newport had envisioned, and are focusing on residential conversions.

Someone else with more info chime in to correct me if im wrong.

I think the design style of "STUDIOS Architecture" focuses on European modern style, which is more appropriate for the renovation of old buildings. I hope the new developer can hire them to continue designing in the future.
If the new developer want to transform it into a pedestrian street, adding residential buildings to the old commercial buildings is the right idea. This "insertion" method can organically combine the old and new buildings. Newport's original design ideas had some merit.
With the addition of streetcar, the ground floor will be commercial retail and the upper floors will be residential, transforming it into a pedestrian street just like some streets in Sydney CBD.
If there is only commercial retail but no residential buildings, it will never be able to gather popularity. This is a fatal injury.

[bryantm3]

The funny thing about modern "human scale development" is that it's a facade— there is no way to operate a building with 1000 residents at a human scale. What I would like to see are more apartment buildings that can be successfully managed by a large family. The crazy people who call the massive 5-over-1s "communist" might not have a good grasp on what communism actually is— but they do have a point that such a living situation is authoritarian. The income inequality issue— where we all wait for big corporations to build because we're all too poor— is manifesting itself in the types of buildings that are being built— designed so that they can only be managed and maintained by bureaucracy— whether that's a large corporation or the government is really besides the point. They are killing the creativity & ingenuity that happens in a city that has a lot of granularity— because that granularity is what gives opportunities for someone to take a risk and start something new.

It seems like everybody's so hungry for housing that they're willing to take anything. But these types of developments have almost always turned out to be bad news, and I don't see how our technology is going to change that.

[smArTaLlone]

Potential tenants are showing interest in these properties due to their strategic location near MARTA & Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as well as the planned $10 billion that will be invested in Downtown Atlanta in the coming years.