SOUTHERN EXPOSURE

Atlanta’s star is rising from suburban sprawl and tangled freeways as a real city is reborn,

Atlanta has shaken off the effects of the recession and risen anew, writes Michael André Adams

Having triumphed through the same era of economic downturn that much of the country faced, the city of Atlanta is once again booming, holding onto its status as the epicentre of the Progressive South. Both business travellers to the city and those who live here are discovering the offerings have risen by an order of magnitude.

For newcomers to the unofficial capital of the South, it will help to get your bearings. The city itself is roughly divided into quadrants, split north-south by the I-75-I85 corridor, and from east to west by I-20. Surrounding all this is The Perimeter, aka I-285, a 103-kilometre-long, eightto 18-lane-wide river of concrete that encircles Atlanta and connects many of its outlying suburbs. If you’re flying into Atlanta, you’ll want to know that HartsfieldJackson International Airport is situated about six o’clock on the circle, wedged into a triangle of land where I-85, I-75 and I-285 criss-cross south of downtown.

With all this woof and warp of interstate highways woven throughout the urban fabric, you might conclude that Atlanta is just a gigantic string of suburbs with a lifeless, even deteriorating downtown core at its centre. And 10 years ago, you might have been right.

“Up until the last decade, Atlanta had been the poster child for suburban sprawl. But the re-urbanisation has really made the in-town experience on par with other great cities, ”explains Mark Toro, founder of North American Properties. “Atlanta has become a real city inasmuch as we now offer visitors an urban experience that they were not able to experience before.”

“Thanks to the vision of our most recent mayor, Shirley Franklin, and our current mayor, Kasim Reed, we have been busy laying the foundations for a dramatic transformation of in-town Atlanta, which experienced significant population growth during the past decade, in spite of a national recession, ”explains Atlanta City Council member, Kwanza Hall. Hall’s District 2 includes much of Downtown and Midtown Atlanta, where significant change is most evident.

Toro’s company, North American Properties, has launched a joint venture with CBRE, the world’s largest commercial realestate company, to purchase the relatively new, 138-acre (56 hectare) mixed-use development Atlantic Station from AIG.