We caught up with Central Atlanta Progress' A.J. Robinson following his group's successful annual meeting last week as everyone digested the news that the City of Atlanta was planning to sell Underground Atlanta. (The city still refuses to sell the area under the ground in Atlanta, because they don't believe in our underground tunnel city idea.) A.J. says he's bullish on the concept (which will require the city to buy out the current leaseholder to the property, O'Leary Partners). “Underground is a fantastic piece of real estate,” AJ says. “I think you're going to see some people line up to take a shot at that. There's an opportunity for some type of retail.” What perhaps may be the most attractive aspect to Underground Atlanta is actually way above it--the air rights, he says.
AJ, whose firm announced its moving its offices to 84 Walton St in the Fairly-Poplar District from its current home at The Hurt Building, says that while new tourist attractions have been grabbing the headlines this past year in Downtown, it's the office deals that could have longer-term affects on the submarket, such as Coca-Cola moving to SunTrust Plaza. In fact, of the list of current projects in Downtown Atlanta, “most of which revolve around restaurants, new housing, and retail,” he says. “There is a lot going on both at the retail level and the repositioning of office into either new office… or conversions into housing.”
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