Rough Draft Atlanta put the same three questions to two executives it described as among Downtown's most influential: what sets the city center apart, why it matters to metro Atlanta, and where it is headed over the next five years. Answering were Anna Roach, executive director and CEO of the Atlanta Regional Commission, and Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company.
Roach: a strong region starts with a strong core
Roach began with the people. She described a daily crowd that includes students on their way to class, office workers stepping out for lunch and tourists looking up at the towers. The ARC has kept its headquarters Downtown for many decades, and Roach said she could not picture working from anywhere else.
On the regional question, her argument was that a metro area cannot succeed without a healthy center. "Every successful region needs a successful urban core," she said. She pointed to Downtown as one of the region's biggest job centers and a home for higher education and medical institutions. She also called it a leading draw for tourists, citing its museums, its sports and entertainment venues and its convention space as assets other regions envy.
For the five-year outlook, Roach said she can see Centennial Yards from her office, growing into a major regional destination, and she noted the buzz around an emerging tech scene. Close by, she said, developers are placing a big bet on remaking historic South Downtown as a place to live, work and play. She expects getting around Downtown to improve as well, crediting more bike and pedestrian routes, transit investments such as bus rapid transit lines, and the Five Points MARTA station renovation. With public and private investment arriving at the same time, she described the outlook as bright.
Womack: a commitment the region has kept
Womack opened with the region's track record. He said metro Atlanta has collectively committed to unleashing Atlanta's economy and has held to that for 165 years, and that the moment calls for doubling down. He framed the work as both the right thing to do and a business decision. "A thriving community fosters a thriving economy where the next generation of talent wants to live and work," he said.
He pointed to Southern Company's response to Hurricane Helene, when he said the company offered resources and support to people who needed them, as a model for how the region should approach what is happening Downtown: stand together, reimagine and act on both the challenges and the opportunities.
Asked why Downtown matters, Womack called it "the front door to metro Atlanta" and described it as the region's core and the center of Atlanta's economy, culture and politics. Revitalizing it, he said, is necessary if the region wants to keep its momentum going.
His five-year priorities were infrastructure, safety and cleanliness, along with a Downtown that works for students, professionals, small business owners, visitors and residents, a neighborhood where everyone belongs. He acknowledged the goal will take considerable resilience, but said he has no doubt it will be met. "If I seem bullish about this, it's because I am," he said.
Reported by Rough Draft Atlanta.
