Civic Center property plans concern O4W residents

By Collin Kelley INtown Editor

Film and television studios surrounded by a performing arts center, a hotel, and a mix of residential, office and retail could transform the Atlanta Civic Center property in Downtown/ Old Fourth Ward into a regional tourist destination.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the mixed-use proposal is one of the more ambitious concepts to emerge so far as the city prepares to put the 19-acre Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center site on the market. Local real estate development firm Carter is proposing the concept.

In June, the Atlanta City Council voted to sell the Civic Center, turning the 380,000-square-foot space over to its economic development arm, Invest Atlanta to seek bids from developers. Despite recent upgrades, the 47-yearold building at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Ralph McGill Boulevard has been a drain on city resources.

Residents who live near the Civic

Center property are concerned about the scope of the proposal and plan to meet with city officials. Tim Hollis, president of Fourth Ward West Neighborhood Association said he and many residents believe plans for the property need to be scaled back.

“There are apartments and condo buildings that are six and seven stories tall around the Civic Center,” Hollis said. “Twenty-story buildings don’t fit in the neighborhood and a 4,000-seat performing arts center isn’t necessary.”

Hollis said the community would welcome more residential, office, retail and park space on the site.

And even as the city prepares to divest itself of the Downtown Civic Center, Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond has floated the idea of putting a new Civic Center at the city-owned Bellwood Quarry (you’ll recognize it from The Walking Dead). The 350-acre quarry site with its dramatic, sheer rock faces and blue-green water is supposed to be transformed into Westside Reservoir Park on the Atlanta BeltLine.