Newsroom
Get the story behind the places, faces, and current events shaping the downtownATL district.
In 2015, Mayor Reed appointed Atlanta's first Chief Bicycle Officer, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition was pushing to open streets for car-free events, and a statewide survey found that 81 percent of Georgians would bike if the infrastructure were safer.
By 2015, MomoCon had outgrown its Georgia Tech origins and moved to the Georgia World Congress Center, drawing 20,000 attendees and 200 vendors — a family-friendly counterpart to Dragon Con's Labor Day spectacle.
In his 2015 State of the City address, Mayor Kasim Reed announced two ambitious infrastructure moves: extending the Atlanta Streetcar eastward to connect with the BeltLine, and transforming the abandoned Bellwood Quarry into the city's largest park.
On December 30, 2014, Mayor Kasim Reed presided over a grand opening ceremony at Woodruff Park as the Atlanta Streetcar began its 2.7-mile route through downtown — connecting Centennial Olympic Park to the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District with 12 stops along the way.
Mayor Kasim Reed confirmed in December 2014 that WRS Inc. would purchase Underground Atlanta for $25.8 million, ending decades of city ownership and launching a new chapter for one of downtown's most storied — and most troubled — properties.
Atlanta Tech Village, created by entrepreneur David Cummings after selling his company for nearly $100 million, exemplifies Atlanta's potential as a 21st-century economic hub — growing from 20 desks to hundreds of entrepreneurs in months, demonstrating the city's pent-up demand for collaborative startup space.
In April 2014, Arthur Blank was days away from announcing an MLS expansion franchise for Atlanta — a city that analysts said was "a bit of an underrated soccer city" despite never having had a top-tier professional team.
Atlanta is emerging as a leading tech hub, with over 150 mobile startups and a thriving entrepreneurship scene anchored by Atlanta Tech Village — a co-working space that founder David Cummings grew from 20 desks to over 300 members after selling his company to Salesforce.
Dragon Con projected a record 57,000 attendees for its 2013 convention — up from 52,000 the previous year — as the pop culture gathering spread across five downtown hotels and spilled into Atlanta's streets for its signature Saturday parade.
A construction crew digging near Centennial Olympic Park in July 2013 pulled a cannonball from the ground — a likely remnant of the 1864 federal siege of Atlanta, when Union forces fired thousands of shells into the downtown area.
In 2013, Atlanta officials explored laying fiber-optic cable along the 22-mile BeltLine corridor — envisioning a broadband backbone that would attract tech companies and deliver internet speeds 100 times faster than typical cable service.
On May 20, 2013, the Atlanta City Council voted unanimously to approve SkyView Atlanta — a 20-story Ferris wheel next to The Tabernacle that had previously stood in Paris and Pensacola.
When the 2013 NCAA Final Four came to the Georgia Dome, it brought 100,000 out-of-town visitors, nearly tripled hotel rates, and generated a projected $70 million in economic impact — all concentrated in the blocks around Centennial Olympic Park.
The Atlanta City Council voted 11–4 in March 2013 to use $200 million in hotel-motel tax revenue toward a retractable-roof stadium in downtown Atlanta — the building that would open four years later as Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
In February 2013, Falcons President Rich McKay told Atlanta's City Council that the team would consider a suburban site if negotiations for a new downtown stadium collapsed — setting the stage for the public financing debate that would define the next two years.
