Fresh images obtained by Urbanize Atlanta sketch out how a new downtown retail district could look and function on one of the most heavily trafficked pieces of ground in the city — though officials stress the plans remain preliminary.
For the past several months the Georgia World Congress Center Authority has been running engineering and market studies to test the feasibility of building a low-rise retail hub on International Plaza, the grass-topped concrete parking structure sitting within a few steps of the convention center, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and State Farm Arena — three of the busiest event venues in Georgia.
The redevelopment team — Fuqua Development, Pope & Land Real Estate, and architects Nelson Worldwide — presented its most recent findings to GWCCA's Board of Governors last month, outlining the scope and function of a district that project leaders have compared to the retail sections of Avalon and The Battery Atlanta. The materials include a color-coded key for where specific uses would sit on today's plaza, alongside an expanded Orange Deck parking garage.
The study marks a shift in where the authority is looking. GWCCA had previously explored redeveloping the Home Depot Backyard, the tailgating zone and communal park built in the Georgia Dome's old footprint, before setting those plans aside.
Nothing here is approved, funded, or scheduled. But it puts a specific shape on a question downtown has circled for years: what to do with the acres of surface-level and deck parking that separate its three biggest venues from each other.
Source: Urbanize Atlanta, published October 2025.
