Atlantic Station is home to thousands
Between 5,000 and 6,000 people now live in Atlantic Station, a 138-acre Midtown Atlanta steel plant site from which nearly 12,000 truckloads of contaminated dirt were removed prior to construction of housing, offices, retail, and entertainment. Removing so much soil created an opportunity to install three levels of parking — more than 7,000 spaces — topped by a mixed-use center. Hussain Moosajee, manager of the development for owner American International Group, notes that the many stairways to parking are stylistically “modeled on a subway station,” each with a prominent number.
The first two hours of parking are free. The rate goes “dramatically higher after six hours,” Moosajee told a CNU tour group. “After 24 hours, you pay an arm and a leg.” The escalating rate deters outsiders from parking at Atlantic Station, riding a free shuttle to a nearby MARTA rail station (whose trains run to Atlanta’s airport), and flying away for days at a time.
“Close to 200,000 people a month ride the shuttle service,” Moosajee said. That has enabled Atlantic Station residents to drive much less than the average person in greater Atlanta. A flaw in Atlantic Station’s walkability is its enormously wide arterial roads — including dedicated lanes on both sides of the street for shuttle buses that run every 15 to 30 minutes — that are intimidating to cross on foot. The shopping and restaurant area has between 100 and 150 on-street spaces.
The shopping and restaurant area — Atlantic Station has 1.3 million sq. ft. of retail — looked busy when New Urban News visited in May. Office towers have begun to be built and occupied, but a glassy residential tower stands empty, having been completed after the economy plunged. It is now owned by Starwood and will be marketed as condominium units.
