As Invest Atlanta voted for a new Atlanta Falcons stadium on April 4, board member Joseph Brown said success would be measured by “what does it look like across the street from the stadium” in 2017.
Brown, a co-fund manager for the New York-based Centerline Urban Partners Fund, was referring to whether Northside Drive and the communities of Vine City, English Avenue and Castleberry Hill would be significantly improved by having a new $1 billion stadium as a next door neighbor.
Two facts were not lost on those present.
After the Georgia Dome opened in 1992, it has been hard to identify any lasting positive contributions that development has made to the surrounding community.
Also, football stadiums around the country traditionally have not served as catalysts for community reinvestment and revitalization.
And yet, two strong personalities — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank — believe Atlanta can create a different outcome.
At the Invest Atlanta board meeting, Reed explained that when the Georgia Dome was being built, Atlanta’s attention already had shifted to hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Also, there were three different mayors in office during that time frame.
Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young was finishing his second term when the Georgia Dome deal was being put together; Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson was then elected for a four-year term; and then he was followed by Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell who took office a couple of years before the Olympics.
“We have a unique opportunity,” said Reed, adding that if he and his colleagues on the Atlanta City Council are re-elected and if most Invest Atlanta board members continue to serve, the story will be different.
Especially if the new stadium is built on the preferred South site next to the Georgia Dome, the belief is that the development can become part of the fabric that connects downtown with the community. A fall-back option is a North site about half-mile away at Northside Drive and Ivan Allen Boulevard…
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