Does Anyone Actually Live at Atlantic Station?
Decatur Metro | December 17, 2007
I’ve been asking myself this question ever since the over-hyped, mixed-use, mega-city first opened to the public in 2005. At first I chalked it all up to on-going construction. “Once this place is finished, kids will play in the fountains, elderly couples will walk hand-in-hand along the wide sidewalks, and 20 somethings will sunbathe in the parks.”, I thought. But that hasn’t been the case. In the two plus years since its opened, Atlantic Station has continued to look as dead as its ever been. Which has led me to speculate that either no one lives here or the homes and apartments are inhabited by some sort of mole people straight out of the 1956 sci-fi movie.
Tell me you don’t have the same experience? Whenever I drive across the 17th street bridge into former brownfill country for an embarassingly frequent Banana Republic fix, all the residential areas are a wasteland. Sidewalks? Empty. Porches? Empty. Apartment balconies? Empty. Parks? Empty.
Maybe I just don’t know where to look. Maybe all the families hangout away from where all the chainstore junkies congregate. I wouldn’t blame them if they did. But I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not the case.
For one thing, I keep coming across these exceedingly lame articles touting Atlantic Station’s walkable “urban living” and I can’t help but wonder: mole people?
Take the one today about organized Stroller Parades in the AJC.
The article dubs a meager 15 stroller parade a “success” for Atlantic Station, and uses that “success” to emphasize the “popularity” of living intown that apparently is epitomized by the mixed-use complex. The AJC goes on to use the example of one Alpharetta family that’s moving to Atlantic Station to prop up its poorly argued thesis, while simultaneously quoting people from Druid Hills, Midtown and Decatur that obviously have no desire to move there and only showed up for the walk and a couple 5% discounts.
15 couples certainly aren’t enough to keep this city within the city alive, and definitely are not enough to justify an extensive AJC article. So what gives with all the lame PR? Where I come from, lame PR = trouble.
I want to see occupancy rates for this place and haven’t been able to find them anywhere. Show me something above 70% and I’ll shut up. Until then, I’ll just see these far-fetched articles as continued examples that this mixed-use monster is not thriving, but struggling. Anyone living there now is free to comment.
On the flip side, I can’t wait for H&M to open.
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Yes, lame PR does = trouble. I’ve always thought Atlantic Station is just kind of creepy. And yeah, I’d love to see occupancy rates over there. I think they probably over-reached. It’s almost kind of insulting to think that you can just engineer a good community that people will care about. “Stores, check. Restaurants, check. Housing, check. Special slightly-lower income housing, check. Where is every body?” One of the problems is that once you’ve seen everything there, well, you’ve seen everything there. No one’s bringing anything new without the developer’s blessing.
I have a friend who lives in a condo there and likes it. I occasionally shop for clothes and watch movies there. Every time I’ve been it’s been crowded enough that it didn’t seem like they’ve had any trouble making money.
Hey Rusty, always good to hear from you. Are you talking about the commercial district being crowded? Because I certainly don’t argue that the shops attract their fair share of customers.
My concern is with the residential. There are just SO many condos, and I rarely see folks walking/hanging out outside the commercial section. Perhaps they are all filled up, but no one goes outside?
Great pics from Lake Lanier BTW.
Thanks for the compliment about the LL pics!
Yeah, I was mainly talking about the commercial district. I don’t spend enough time in the residential area to have a good feel for it. The parking garage at my friend’s condo seems pretty full, but that’s pretty anecdotal.
The fact that there is no MARTA stop at Atlantic Station is, I think, its greatest deficiency.
Yeah, I guess the “exclusive” bus lane on 17th that all the cars drive in just doesn’t cut it.
It would be great if someday our “city leaders” would see the density in progress and build a new northwest/southeast line from Lakewood to Marietta. This could connect Turner Field with Atlantic Station to the new Cobb Energy Center and up to Marietta. It could even share track with the north/south line from Five Points to Arts Center. Why is such a sensible thing only such a dream?
It looks like the Atlanta Transit Planning Board’s map has a trolley line that might connect to Atlantic Station…Turner Field too. And also heads up I-75 to Town Center.
I mentioned it in this previous post. There’s also a link for to the map there.
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2007/12/04/a-streetcar-named-decatur/
Now, this Board is comprised of MARTA, the ARC and the GA Regional Transit Authority. Not to be confused with the city’s “Connect Atlanta” initiative.
OK, a couple extra things. First, in regards to my previous post concerning the trolley line. I now realize that the one I referenced in the map is actually the Beltline light rail, which DOES NOT connect to Atlantic Station, as far as I can tell.
Also, I went over to Atlantic Station at lunch to do a little Christmas shopping and I have a few extra observations.
I think the layout of Atlantic Station is partially to blame for its slow population growth. The design of having huge separate commercial/office/residential areas hearkens to the downtowns of the largest metropolitan areas (ie. New York, Chicago) and supports the idea of having a huge outdoor mall like area for all the big name retailers. However, it probably hinders gradual residential growth, just because of its scale. Without the huge population to create the vibrancy needed to give life to a huge “downtown” complex, Atlantic Station simply feels deserted. And who wants to live in a wasteland?
We might never know if Atlantic Station could ever “feel” like a thriving downtown, because it may never make it through its adolescence.
I havent seen any stats on population growth, but I am a real estate agent and I can certainly say that with regard to the various condos that have sprung up in Atlantic Station, there certainly aren’t very many that have not be sold. The “Art Foundry,” for example has been sold out for sometime and the newer “Element” only has a small fraction of the large number of initial units and the ATLofts also has sold out…The townhomes and single family homes built by Beazer have long since sold out if no one is living there, then some large unseen presence sure is intent on buying up all the property…
I’m also not sure I agree with some of the comments about the layout of the area. For example, above the retail, restaurants and entertainment there are apartments and lofts. The lofts, for example are completely sold out. The Twelve building is also right in the middle of this district…the area is also still growing with a great deal of growth in condos hotels, retail for a dead area…
Thanks for the inside info SCY! Exactly the kind of insight I was looking for when I originally asked the question.
But if all the residences are full, then why don’t I ever spot anyone walking around or just hanging out outside of the retail district? If everyone still gets in there car to go anywhere, its not really living up to its name as a walkable “live, work, play” community.
I’ve lived in Twelve over 2 years. I can tell you it’s 100% owned sold out in 8 wks in 05, but maybe 60-70% occupied. My guess is there were many investors as there were 1400 people on the waiting list for 380 condos. There are only 3 condos, Art foundary, Element and Twelve and all sold in record time well before ATL Station opened in 05. My guess is Art foundary has always been close to full occupied.
In my opinion Lane Company, the builder of Element and ATL Lofts, killed Atl Station’s early momentum due to construction delays. Element which was sold out and move-ins scheduled for 2005, was delayed for about a year and a half and move ins didn’t start till 2007. ATL Lofts which also had many sold was also delayed a year. By 2007 the Housing market forecast is doom and gloom, so many backed out of contracts and they have to resell a 2nd time. If they had stayed on time that’s potential 700 more units that could have residents in 05 that sat empty till 07. That’s just my opinion, and maybe residents of Element and ATL lofts can tell us differently. I don’t know occupancy of apartments, but the parking lots look pretty full. The hotel had 75% daily occupancy for 2006.
There are 3 places I go as a resident, Publix, LA Fitness and Target. If you want to see residents check out LA Fitness any night of the week at 7 pm, it’s very crowded. Other than that I don’t hang out in Atlantic Station because it’s too crowded, and there is nothing worthwhile to do there!!. And yes I like living there. Location is great. 2 miles commute to work, free shuttle to Marta, easy to hail taxi at 12, anything you need at Target-Publix, very secure, can look out window at 4 am and see security gaurds standing in street, West Midtown has no traffic, Easy access to 75, 5 mins to Braves and Falcons game. IMO, The secret of Atlantic Station is it’s not a great place to visit, but it is a good place to live.