City negotiating lease buyout with plans to sell historic attraction

By Collin Kelley INtown Editor

Mayor Kasim Reed said the city is in negotiations with CV Underground to buy out the remainder of their current 88-year lease on Underground Atlanta. A unanimous Atlanta City Council vote on March 17 authorized a purchase price of up to $8.8 million dollars for the 12-acre site.

Underground, owned by the Downtown Development Authority, has been leased for just $100,000 per year, while mortgage and upkeep has been costing the city roughly $8 million per year.

“ e time is right for us to reposition Underground Atlanta and stop the bleeding on our balance sheet,” Reed said. “With this move, we have the ability to market the property and solicit the best, most innovative ideas to transform it into a vibrant component of downtown. Based on the city’s track record with Ponce City Market, the Lakewood Fairgrounds and Buckhead Atlanta, I am con dent we will succeed with Underground.”

Reed said he hopes the sale of e Underground retail and entertainment district, best known for hosting the annual Peach Drop on New Year’s Eve, was created a er the Civil War as bridges and viaducts were built over Downtown’s railroad tracks. e veblock section, containing about 12-acres, was eventually covered and forgotten as the street level was raised one-and-a-half stories by the end of the 1920s. e second heyday didn’t last long

Underground will be a catalyst for redevelopment just like the old City Hall East complex, which is being transformed into Ponce City Market. Developer Jamestown Properties bought the building from the city for $13.5 million up front with the potential for double that amount based on the success of the redevelopment.

Underground was rediscovered in the 1960s and the original store fronts, brick streets and gas lamps were renovated and turned into a restaurant and nightclub district in 1969, including the original Dante’s Down the Hatch. e heyday was short-lived and Underground became home to vagrants until the late 80s, when it was resurrected again in 1989.

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either as the upscale retailers and restaurants ed and were replaced by small shops, chain stores and fast-food restaurants. ere have been proposals to turn Underground into a gambling casino, a museum or an arts district.