Georgia officials have selected a development team to transform the 11-acre Home Depot Backyard into a new entertainment district in the shadow of Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Signia by Hilton Atlanta hotel tower. The team includes Atlanta development firm Fuqua Development, local investment company Pope and Land Real Estate, and Minneapolis-based architects Nelson Worldwide, following a Request for Qualifications issued in April.
Details and cost are still to be determined, though the RFQ specified the project could span up to 250,000 square feet. The same development team previously built The Battery Atlanta, the mixed-use district surrounding Truist Park, offering a preview of what could be in store. No timeline has been set, though Atlanta's 2026 FIFA World Cup matches — the first set for June 15 that year — add urgency. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority has said the goal is a "seamless integration" of entertainment venues, convention space, and greenspace on downtown's western fringe.
Since opening six years ago, the Backyard greenspace has hosted tailgating for Falcons and Atlanta United games as well as community events like movie nights and free yoga. It sits atop the former Georgia Dome's crushed foundation.
Elsewhere downtown, the original World of Coca-Cola museum building near the Georgia State Capitol — vacant since Coke relocated to Centennial Olympic Park in 2007 — is being demolished. State officials, who bought the site from Coke for $1 million two decades ago, plan to turn it into a surface parking lot to offset Capitol complex parking lost to the Gold Dome's $392 million expansion. Demolition was expected to be complete by early August.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published June 2024.
