PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

FORGING AHEAD

Atlanta steel mill site set to become vast mixed-use project

By Donna Mitchell

Atlantic Station, a mixed-use project planned for Atlanta, is being patterned after neighborhoods such as New York City’s Soho.

Jacoby Development did not exist when the steel manufacturer Atlanta Steel Hoop Co. planted roots in Atlanta and prospered as the city grew around it.

But these days the retail property developer is planning a project on the same site that will take the city into its next phase of expansion, stressing smart, efficient growth. That’s the idea, the grand design, behind Atlantic Station, a mixed-use development — heavy on retail — where Atlanta Steel Hoop Co. once stood.

Atlantic Station’s planners and designers have picked the tag line “live — work — play” to describe their new project, suggesting that life in the new section of midtown Atlanta will be on the go, all the time. The property will contain retail, entertainment, residential, office, spa and hotel components.

Jacoby Development of Atlanta conceived of the mixed-use project in 1997, after it acquired the 138-acre site from Jesse Webb, president and CEO of Atlantic Steel Hoop Co. But before Jacoby Development’s ideas for the site could progress, Webb had to see to it that the former brownfield was mostly cleansed of nearly a century of chemical residue in time for the groundbreaking in late 2000. The grand opening is scheduled for 2003.

Jacoby Development hired the architectural firm Development Design Group (DDG) of Baltimore to create the look of the project. In trying to shape Atlantic Station like a busy metropolitan neighborhood, similar to New York City’s Soho, they’ve put retail and restaurants on the street level, and capped them off in some areas with loft-style apartments and offices.

“What we did was take our cues from the fact that it was a steel manufacturing site. We’re trying to create a TriBeCa, Soho quality,” said John Clark, president of DDG, and the principal in charge of the Atlantic Station project. “Many of the buildings were long, low, industrial buildings with sloped roofs and ventilating conduits. We’re using that vernacular as a theme for all of the buildings; it’s primarily industrial architecture that will set the tone for the center.”

A representation of a smokestack will tower above Atlantic Station and beckon to those afar with colorful illuminations, while an underground parking system will mirror the activity on the surface with amenities of its own.

Atlantic Station will be an enormous project, about 138 acres, enough to accommodate up to 20 million square feet of development. However, the current plan is more modest: The project will include some 1.5 million square feet of retail space and about 70,000 to 80,000 square feet of entertainment areas. Plans also call for up to 4,000 residential units on the site, plus as much as 8 million square feet of office space.

“We could potentially have 30,000 jobs in the project and 10,000 people living here,” said James E. Jacoby, chairman of Jacoby Development, adding that he expects the retail component to generate about $600 million in sales annually. There is no word yet about which retailers will anchor the project, and which specialty stores will make up the tenant roster. But planners hope to land a wide range of retailers — from high-end fashion boutiques to discount stores like Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart.

The retail portion of Atlantic Station will be open-air, with a distinctive look, according to Clark. For one thing, the stores will be arranged along the equivalent of 11 city blocks. Each building will incorporate different types of brick, accents and dimensions, and will be sectioned into three, maybe four separate structures, so that they will look like smaller buildings that were constructed one by one. Doing it that way breaks down the magnitude of the entire project, and gives each merchant a space that feels like his or her own building, Clark said.

Some storefronts will feature colonnades or canvas awnings to create cover for people in inclement weather.

“We will have tree-lined streets, and the streets will be about 62 feet wide, which comes from the old Eastern cities, the neighborhoods that you love, like Georgetown or Soho,” Clark said. All the streets in Atlantic Station have a token amount of parking on them, which helps populate and animate the development, and invites activity.

A majority of the parking capacity — about 6,000 cars — is on two levels below the street. This subterranean area will have a life of its own, and give Atlantic Station a second important distinction from traditional shopping centers. There will be valet parking service, and a place for drivers to have their cars washed or even serviced as they spend the day on the street surface. The underground areas will have street lighting, curbs and even fountains, to match the look on the surface, Clark said.

The project is one that represents smart growth, according to the developer. By the early 1970s, Atlanta’s downtown population had made so many inroads around the Atlantic Steel Hoop site that the operation, dating from 1901, began to seem out of place in this residential environment, said Webb.

“As Atlanta grew we found ourselves operating … in practically the midtown,” Webb said. “It did not fit the landscape. All over were houses and commercial buildings.”

With a little bit of give and take, the project won acknowledgement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA dubbed Atlantic Station in September 1999 as “Project XL,” a designation that slightly waives some regulatory standards, given the slightly increased traffic that the development might incur. Atlanta-based Jim Kutzman, deputy director for the EPA’s waste management division, said Jacoby is building a bridge over Atlanta’s 17th Street, which will connect the city’s east and west ends. After its completion, the bridge will also be able to accommodate heavy or light rail lines operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Agency, and ease impact of the increased traffic. The bridge and the mixed-use elements of the project helped cast Atlantic Station in a kinder light.

From Jacoby Development’s standpoint, the Project XL designation is validation of their project as an example of smart-growth development.

“Everything comes together at this midtown point,” said Jacoby. “One of the things we’re trying to do is create a gathering place where people can meet friends.”

© 2008 ICSC. All rights reserved. | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Contact ICSC | ICSC Home |