Atlantic Station In Mid-Town Atlanta Is A Beautiful Development But It Has Not Lived Up To The Hype

Learn How "10 Steps To Improving Your Finances" Can Lead To Financial Success For You & Your Family...

If you are considering purchasing a home or refinancing—you can go to quickenloans.com or lendingtree.com along with local mortgage lenders in your area—to determine what loan will best suit you—and your family.  You can compare closing costs, APR's and Par rates to determine what loan will best serve your—and your family's long-term interests.

Shop on eBay----Shop on amazon.com----Purchase My New Book

Learn how to apply the— “Keys to Success”—in your life

Atlantic Station Adds Beauty to Atlanta's Skyline

Atlantic Station was a mid-town development that was suppose to be a “live-work-play” community that would re-energize the mid-town area from commerce to residential ingenuity.

Atlantic Station is a development that began in the early 2000’s and continue to this day.

The addition of Atlantic Station has given Atlanta an additional area of their skyline that is beautiful and breathtaking compared to what existed there before (100 plus year old—Atlantic Steel Mill site on approximately 138 acres located near I-75/I-85 just north of Atlanta), however the development did not live up to its initial billing.

In part that was due to the market meltdown of the real estate and financial markets of the past few years.

However, that does not fully explain the slow development of the area from a "people" point of view. Security, local owned shops, better home prices, and peace of mind remain elusive according to some residents.

The development has recently changed ownership with North American Properties of Cincinnati and CB Richard Ellis Investors now holding majority ownership as of March 2011.

The Atlantic Station troubles include the selling of two apartment buildings that were sold in foreclosure—CB Richard Ellis now owns, and the FDIC took control of the Atlantic Condo Tower, with 47 floors of nearly unsold condo units. Many retailers have struggled and closed as well.

The good news, if you can call it that is that 2,200 of Atlantic Stations 2,700 residential units are occupied, though the project has been plagued by foreclosures. Atlantic Station officials contend that about 4,000 people live there and about 1,500 work in the restaurants and shops.

The retail portion of Atlantic Station looked as if a successful future was in the cards, however things soon changed when 2007-2008 arrived as the financial markets along with the real estate market began to tremble.

The goal of the new owners appear to be to re-invent the Atlantic Station area as CB Richard Ellis is a heavy hitter and has deep enough pockets to possibly transform the area to a more desirable area to live, work, and play.

Atlantic Station consists of three office towers, a large outdoor retail center, and a number of apartment and condo developments and a hotel. IKEA is also located on the outskirts of Atlantic Station, along with West Elm and H&M Stores.

Many current and potential residents see the commercialization of the area by national chains as a turn off as they seem to prefer locally owned businesses and locally owned businesses seem to be sparsely located in Atlantic Station.

Many residents feel the development lacks identity due to the design not being in sync with access to other areas of the city.

The area does not appear to invite pedestrians or tie in to the rest of the city as there is no Marta train station in the area or no other system in place for moving large numbers of people.

Residents of Atlantic Station also complain of a lack of mid-priced restaurants (however fast food and high end restaurant are plentiful), lack of variety with the shops that are currently open, loitering and lack of local flavor in the area.

These are all issues the new owners plan on working on and hopefully improving as Atlantic Station is a beautiful development and still could turn out to be a great development if they can get the live-work-play area to be a serious destination for residents.

The live-work-play community does offer convenience, however declining property values here and throughout areas of Atlanta are a concern.

To give you an idea of the decline in Atlantic Station some 3 bedroom 3 1/2 bath town homes that sold for over a half million dollars in 2007 are now selling for $300,000 dollars or so as of the spring of 2011.

Hopefully the new owners will create an environment where people will want to live, play and work in Atlantic Station that leads to a level of success and well-being for all parties involved—including the new owners.

About This Article:

 

The above article was written by Thomas (TJ) Underwood.   Thomas (TJ) Underwood is an active real estate broker in the state of Georgia and is the writer behind The Wealth Increaser, Home Buyer 411,  Home Seller 411, The 3 Step Structured Approach to Managing Your Finances, Managing & Improving Your Credit & Finances for this MILLENNIUM and CREDIT & FINANCE IMPROVEMENT MADE EASY—FREE GUIDE. 

He is the creator of TheWealthIncreaser.com where he regularly blogs about helping consumers improve their credit, finance and real estate pursuits in an intelligent, consistent and proactive manner.  He’s always looking for ways to make intelligent finance improvement happen for those who “sincerely desire” success in their future. 

You can contact him from a number of sources but the most direct way is to contact him through the contact us block that can be found at the bottom of this page. 

You can also get other highly relevant tips on "living your life more abundantly" and possibly earn revenue at the same time by linking to TheWealthIncreaser.com.

Return to Top

Shop on eBay----Shop on amazon.com----Purchase My New Book

Learn how to apply the— “Keys to Success”—in your life

Return From Atlantic Station to Atlanta Homes Central


Return From Atlantic Station to The Best Atlanta Real Estate Advice Home Page