Eye-catching title, eh?
It was announced this morning that former VP of Atlantic Station, Brian Leary – who has commented here amidst my many semi-rational rants against the massive mixed-use in the past – has been hired as the Beltline’s new CEO.
According to his AS bio, Leary has spent more than a decade living and breathing Atlantic Station, and before that even wrote his master’s thesis on the redevelopment of the old brownfield site.
Leary’s new task, The Beltline, is a monumentally different challenge.
Instead of building a mini-city based on New Urbanist principles from the ground up, Leary will now be tasked with using those same principles to reconnect existing neighborhoods.
And while Atlantic Station had its fair share of hurdles (parking mandates, GDOT, etc) to work around to achieve its current mixed-use state, it will be nothing compared to the zoning, property and transportation challenges facing the much more intrusive Beltline.
Yes my friends, I’m talking about a planner’s greatest fear of all: the dreaded NIMBY.