Mayor Kasim Reed announced in December 2014 that WRS Inc., a real estate company based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, would purchase Underground Atlanta for $25.8 million. The sale, managed through a competitive bidding process by the Downtown Development Authority, would end the city's direct ownership of a property that had been equal parts landmark and liability for decades.
Reed framed the sale in fiscal terms: the transaction would generate "$8 million in annual cost savings for the city" by removing Underground's maintenance and operational costs from the municipal budget. WRS Inc. president and CEO T. Scott Smith said the deal was expected to close by mid-2015, pending city council approval in January.
A Property With More Past Than Present
Underground Atlanta occupies some of the most historically significant real estate in the southeastern United States. The complex sits above and around the railroad gulch that gave Atlanta its reason to exist — the terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad that drew the settlement in the 1830s. The Georgia Railroad Freight Depot, built in 1869, still stands adjacent to the site as the oldest building in downtown Atlanta.
The modern Underground opened as an entertainment district in 1969, capitalizing on the subterranean storefronts that had been buried when the city raised its street level by one story in the early 20th century. The district thrived through the 1970s as a nightlife destination, then declined as crime and competition from suburban malls eroded its customer base. A 1989 renovation attempted a restart. The 1996 Olympics brought a temporary surge. But by 2014, most of the retail space was vacant, and the property had developed a reputation for petty crime and panhandling that made it difficult to attract tenants.
The Plan and Its Uncertainties
WRS Inc. proposed transforming Underground into a mixed-use retail and housing development — a plan that would add residents to a part of downtown that had almost none. The concept aligned with a broader trend in downtown Atlanta: converting single-use commercial properties into mixed-use neighborhoods that generate foot traffic around the clock, not just during business hours.
City officials characterized the sale as a critical piece of the ongoing downtown revitalization effort, expecting the new development to complement the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, and the stadium district to the west.
The property would change hands again before the vision fully materialized — Lalani Ventures, the entertainment arm of Billionaires Funding Group, purchased Underground in 2020 — but the 2014 sale to WRS marked the moment the city acknowledged that Underground's best chance at revival required private investment, not public management.
Original reporting by GPB News, Georgia Public Broadcasting, December 16, 2014.