What's wrong with Atlantic Station? (Atlanta: mall, airport, nightlife)

[nedergras]

Originally Posted by muxBuppie

When your whole goal is to state negative thing about something it typically comes off of you hating it. I mean that is just common social tact here in America, but maybe it is different in Germany.

"Hating?" Just like hating different perspectives you don't like or share?

[coolieandre]

I think Atlantic Station was a bad idea. Honestly. It's a really nice place, and I'm sure they really wanted to fix that area of Downtown, but there was more that could have been done and invested in the actual city center. The entire walkable city thing was a joke. You still park at the bottom, and have to drive to get there. So what's the difference???? The conomy of course had a HUGE effect on it, and I feel like it could have been amazing if we weren't in a recession. I don't even like the fact that Dillard's is Downtown... TF?? I'd prefer another store in my opinion. Also, I wish they would have planned the whole Midtown mile idea before and spread all that stuff along P'tee and some neighboring roads to get people and development off just 1 street. I know we're no Magnificent Mile, but I'd like us to create our own version of that....We have too many Companies and money in this city to do pointless investments like ATL station, and then see them go down hill...

[ATLTJL]

Just curious....did you happen to see what that space was BEFORE it was Atlantic Station?

They could have built a parking lot there and it would have been an improvement.

Atlantic Station was not a bad idea, it was a fantastic idea. It had a few problems, as any development of that scale will. I agree that Dillards probably wasn't a great fit, but AS had space and Dillards wanted space. So, are you suggesting AS should have said no to Dillards and the space would have been empty instead? They rented to the highest bidders.

Atlantic Station was supposed to be a true work, live, play environment. That's hard to do in midtown because there is no green space that is walkable from Peachtree. Atlantic Station is at least built around that courtyard thing where they can have a Christmas tree in the winter and art fairs in the summer. And they do those things, and they are pretty cool.

Atlantic Station was a rare opportunity for a single development idea to obtain an enormous piece of land at one time and build it from the ground up without having to retrofit or demolish a lot of old buildings. It was aggressive, and the original plans were quite a bit more impressive than what the financial reality allowed to ultimately be built there.

But let's take a quick step back. Midtown now has a proper stadium seating movie theater, aother Publix, a Target, IKEA, and a bunch of smaller stores it didn't have before. It's not perfect, but I think people tend to forget how much it has actually done for that area and what was there before. The fact that you actually can drive to it was pretty smart because it increases traffic. Midtown mile is a neat idea, too, but is there really a big enough base of people who live within walking distance to support it? Parking is an issue for most people. That's why even Piedmont Park had to break down and build a parking deck. Walkable areas are great, but if you don't accomodate parking, you are unnecessarily crippling the amount of people who can support those businesses. What business owner would want that?

[coolieandre]

Of coure anything is better than what was previously there. But I still think it was designed poorly. And I still think more shops could have been added into the actual city.

[muxBuppie]

Originally Posted by coolieandre

I think Atlantic Station was a bad idea. Honestly. It's a really nice place, and I'm sure they really wanted to fix that area of Downtown, but there was more that could have been done and invested in the actual city center. The entire walkable city thing was a joke. You still park at the bottom, and have to drive to get there. So what's the difference???? The conomy of course had a HUGE effect on it, and I feel like it could have been amazing if we weren't in a recession. I don't even like the fact that Dillard's is Downtown... TF?? I'd prefer another store in my opinion. Also, I wish they would have planned the whole Midtown mile idea before and spread all that stuff along P'tee and some neighboring roads to get people and development off just 1 street. I know we're no Magnificent Mile, but I'd like us to create our own version of that....We have too many Companies and money in this city to do pointless investments like ATL station, and then see them go down hill...

You can get there via marta shuttle from the train or bus. The taking the shuttle is like a 5 minute drive from from the station.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

I give up. And trust me, it's not my logic that's flawed, it's your comprehension.

What is it to comprehend? You yourself said that AS was surrounded by a sea of blight. Did I not read that correctly? Your argument sounds foolish with AS literally sitting across the 17th St bridge from Spring St & W Peachtree St and Peachtree just another block over, or I guess I missed that memo about the Peachtree Rd corridor in Midtown being a blighted area. I guess Springlake and West Midtown are slums too. I'll make sure to lock my doors next time I ride down Howell Mill to grab a burger from Flip, don't want to get car jacked by those goons over there.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Just curious....did you happen to see what that space was BEFORE it was Atlantic Station?

They could have built a parking lot there and it would have been an improvement.

From reading the posts in this thread I don't think a lot of people remember what was there before AS was built. That area seriously looked like a much smaller version of the US Steel complex on Lake Michigan southeast of Chicago. It was super ugly, and it was right in the middle of the city on top of it. People seem to have this pipe dream of Atlanta always being some utopia of shiny glass towers with a bunch of white collar people working white collar jobs when thats just not true. Atlanta started off as an industrial town and even up until around the time I was born there were still some factories left like the GM Plant that was in SE Atlanta for example. I can't tell you how many people I have met from here that don't know Atlanta used to have 2 different GM Plants.

[ATLTJL]

I can't tell you how many people I have met from here that don't know Atlanta used to have 2 different GM Plants.

The GM plant in Doraville is still there and it looks relatively untouched. I think officials are still trying to figure out what to do about it.

What's the other GM plant? I know about the Ford plant in Hapeville. Are you confusing that? Did it used to be a GM plant? Or does that Ford plant make 3 plants in Atlanta?

If you want to see how industrial Atlanta still is, all you have to do is ride MARTA to the airport and look out the window. Pretty much everything south of Ft. McPherson is....well, I don't know what it is, but it looks pretty industrial! I'm a little ashamed to admit that I don't really know anything about that part of town, but I guess it's a commentary on that area that I have never had a reason to go there. It's not like I have needed anything but been afraid to go, there's just no real draw for anybody who doesn't live or work there.

And, btw, just for the record.....when I was commenting on the ugly Beezer townhouses, I made a mistake in calling the area they look down on as a slummy neighborhood, or whatever I called it. I'm not sure how it's evolved over the years, but I know that about 10 years ago I had a friend who lived there, and it was mostly a "student ghetto" made up of mostly GA Tech students. Maybe not the most attractive neighborhood in Atlanta and I probably wouldn't wander around aimlessly at night....but you're probably not going to get killed there. In fact, AS borders midtown to the east, west midtown to the west, a GA Tech student ghetto to the south, and to the north....I'm not exactly sure, I guess Deering Rd. and the little neighborhoods along it. So when you think about it, AS isn't in a bad neighborhood at all. In fact, it's pretty desirable.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

What's the other GM plant? I know about the Ford plant in Hapeville. Are you confusing that? Did it used to be a GM plant? Or does that Ford plant make 3 plants in Atlanta?

The other one was the Lakewood Chevy plant next to the Federal pen.

[Nairobi]

Atlantic Station is a glorified suburban lifestyle center. It's essentially a mall that comes with residences and offices.

Nice place to go to the movies and maybe pick up a few things, but that was it, for me.