From Historic Neighborhood to Startup District in Downtown Atlanta

With tremendous support and encouragement following the announcement of Atlanta Tech Village’s expansion to downtown Atlanta, many people have asked how it will actually work in South Downtown. It’s one thing to put a new startup space in one building, but it’s a whole different challenge to take 56 buildings, 11 parking lots, and turn a neglected historic neighborhood into a thriving startup district.

To start, we’ve focused on the core of the neighborhood, which we affectionately refer to as “Elle” as it makes an “L” shape. This path runs from Mercedes-Benz Stadium down Mitchell Street and then up Broad Street to the Five Points MARTA station. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the most iconic venue in Atlanta, and Five Points MARTA station is the busiest subway station in the city.

Previous developers invested significant capital into Hotel Row, so we’ll begin with a massive 31,000-square-foot Atlanta Tech Village location in one of the buildings closest to Mercedes-Benz Stadium previously known at Hotel Sylvan. Hotel Row will be further anchored by new shops and restaurants. As the neighborhood grows, we’ll continue developing the historic Hotel Scoville building and the historic Concordia building, both on Hotel Row.

Moving up Mitchell Street from Hotel Row to the center of the neighborhood and the middle block of historic Broad Street, we’ll establish a dozen private offices for founders and creatives. These will be combined with many new restaurants, bars, and stores, anchored by a 15,000-square-foot outdoor town square and the historic HL Green Five and Dime, which will house another 30,000-square-foot Atlanta Tech Village (ATV Green!). Our goal with historic Broad Street is to establish a center of gravity for the neighborhood, with a strong emphasis on community for the startup district.

With historic Hotel Row on the southwest side of the neighborhood and historic Broad Street in the center, the area will feature a variety of great startup spaces, food and beverage shops, and a true sense of Atlanta’s history. Hotel Row and historic Broad Street represent 22 of our buildings.

Looking at it on a map, you can see dozens of our buildings north of historic Broad Street and a number of buildings and large parking lots south of historic Broad Street. North of historic Broad, buildings like the original Rich’s Department Store at 82 Peachtree will become incredible loft apartments. The original Bass Dry Goods building at 85 Peachtree, along with the Kress building at 69 Peachtree, are perfect for adaptive reuse. And the list continues. Southeast of historic Broad, the Bass Furniture Building at 142 Mitchell is another beautiful adaptive reuse building. And lastly, directly across from Hotel Row, the large C&S Bank building at 222 Mitchell is another excellent project.

Finally, the many acres of empty parking lots provide decades of new development opportunities to bring more housing to the neighborhood. When finished, it’ll be a complete live/work/play startup district.

The heart of the South Downtown Atlanta startup district is Hotel Row and historic Broad Street, with dozens of startup/creative spaces combined with local restaurateurs, retailers, and a strong sense of history and placemaking at the town square. From this initial foundation, more housing will be built through adaptive reuse and ground-up development. Ultimately, the multi-decade goal is a large startup district that encompasses over 100,000 square feet of creative spaces across many historic buildings, over 1,000 apartment units, dozens of food and beverage options, great shops, and an incredible sense of place where Atlanta was literally founded—and now, a district for founders and startups.