Every December, Central Atlanta Progress - now Downtown Atlanta Inc. - publishes the closest thing downtown has to an annual physical. The State of Downtown 2025 report went live the first week of December 2025, and the organization's follow-up 2025 Impact Report, released at its March 11, 2026 annual meeting, put hard numbers behind it.
The State of Downtown report is the analytical piece. Announced in the December 3, 2025 Downtown Navigator as 'a comprehensive look at the forces shaping our community today,' it collects data on demographic trends, employment and talent pipelines, real estate, visitation, and the public realm. 'More than a collection of numbers,' the announcement read, 'this report tells the story of a place defined by people, opportunity, and constant evolution.' It has become the reference document that brokers, developers, and city planners cite when they need a downtown baseline.
The Impact Report is the scorecard, and its 2025 edition is unusually specific. On economic development, the organization counted $5.2 billion in new investment in the city center, 337 new housing units delivered between The Mitchell and the Sweet Auburn Front Porch, and downtown's selection as one of seven neighborhoods in Mayor Andre Dickens' Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative. It helped welcome more than ten new businesses, among them Atlanta Tech Village's Sylvan, Azalea Market, BE on Edgewood, Brown Toy Box, Cafe Momentum, Crates, Dope Coffee, MJQ Nightclub, Peppers Hot Dogs, SKOL Brewery, Smorgasburg Atlanta, The Vick at the Healey, Utopia Restaurant and Lounge, and Village Books.
On infrastructure: seven major pedestrian enhancement projects underway, $750,000 invested in engineering for upcoming safer-streets construction, an upgraded Jackson Street Bridge that kept its skyline view, and nearly a mile of improvements on Forsyth Street including 450 delineators and bollards and 150 concrete wheel stops. On the Stitch: one master plan adopted, a new 501(c)(3) established to advance it, nine board members sworn in to lead Stitch Inc., and an estimated $9 billion in economic value for Atlanta.
The clean-and-safe numbers are the ones the Ambassador Force lives by: 220 city blocks kept clean, safe, and served; 320,000 gallons of water used to pressure-wash sidewalks; 3,024,000 pounds of garbage removed from city streets; 137 trees planted with Trees Atlanta and Gibbs Landscaping; the one-millionth daffodil bulb planted downtown through the Daffodil Project; and 301 individuals reunited with their families through the Street to Home Initiative, which also secured permanent housing for up to 15 families with a $30,000 United Way grant.
On arts and activation: 37 hours of free yoga in Woodruff Park, 128 hours of live music on the Broad Street Boardwalk, 25 Delta Air Lines volunteers planting 30,000 native seeds on Earth Day, 4,328 square feet of new murals, and the debut of MAP Rover, a high-lumen projector and workstation that turns downtown building faces into screens. On advocacy: 22 networking events, 30 annual forums with more than 1,400 attendees, 18,000 newsletter subscribers, 152,000 social-media followers, and 1.4 million impressions.
'This is the year to be part of Downtown Atlanta,' CAP president A.J. Robinson wrote in the report's closing letter, noting that the 85-year-old organization and the 30-year-old improvement district were about to introduce 'a refreshed, unified brand' - the Downtown Atlanta Inc. identity that debuted the same day the report did. The full State of Downtown report is available through Downtown Atlanta Inc.; the Impact Report is downloadable as a PDF from the organization's annual-report page.
Source: Downtown Navigator, December 3, 2025 (Central Atlanta Progress / ADID); CAP and ADID 2025 Impact Report, published December 3, 2025.
