Revealed: The Gargantuan Plan To Develop The Gulch

CIM Group's plans for the Gulch property in Downtown Atlanta could include more than a dozen new buildings.

Atlanta officials unveiled CIM's renderings for the massive project during a city of Atlanta Council joint work session Wednesday, the first such images from the developer since it began to pursue the property.

CIM is eyeing a $5B project that would encompass more than 9M SF of office, 1M SF of retail, 2,100 apartment units and 1,500 hotel rooms. A source familiar with the plans said 20% of the residential units would be classified as affordable.

The first step for the project will be a three-year process of creating a new street grid 40 feet above the site's current elevation and in line with CNN Center, which will cost roughly $500M, the source said.

The site is believed to be Georgia's pitch to Amazon for its second headquarters project.

Last week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that CIM was seeking a $900M incentive package funded in part by a newly created enterprise zone encompassing the Gulch property.

That public financing could climb to $1.75B if CIM manages to realize the full potential of the project, the AJC reported. It would amount to the largest public assistance for a development project in Atlanta history, topping the $700M in public financing for Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The city of Atlanta still needs to approve the incentive package.

Officials with CIM declined to comment.

With or without Amazon, the Gulch redevelopment could be a massive catalyst for new jobs in the downtown area. City officials projected that the project could lead to 37,000 new, permanent jobs for the city, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we have as a body to transform Atlanta,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told members of Atlanta City Council on Wednesday, according to the ABC. “If we miss this opportunity, it will be an opportunity that will be missed for many, many years to come."