A year ago, the downtown civic group Central Atlanta Progress urged the city's business community at its annual meeting to rally around Atlanta's core ahead of a blockbuster 2026 and the World Cup. On Tuesday, Central Atlanta Progress used the annual board installation event to tout progress on key initiatives underway to help reshape the central business district — including ones that will live on and define downtown long after Atlanta hosts eight matches on soccer's biggest stage.
Some are very well known. There's the $5 billion mini-city, Centennial Yards, remaking the tangle of rail lines and parking lots long known as the Gulch. The second of two towers — Hotel Phoenix — recently reached its highest point, and crews are working to develop an entertainment district that will be built — though likely not fully finished — before the World Cup.
There's South Downtown's rebirth as a tech and entrepreneurial hub which recently marked the opening of an Atlanta Tech Village outpost in the historic Sylvan Hotel. There are also several other efforts to convert office buildings into new uses.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, published January 2025.
