News Archives

Does Apple Consider The Midtown Mile a “Bad Apple?”

April 15, 2014 by Thom Abbott

For those of us that live, work and play in Midtown Atlanta, you know we have restaurants on every corner….and in between. No shortage of those! (Some of them also seem to come and go before we even get a chance to sample them…i.e. La Tagliatella in Metropolis!)

One of the components that just seems to be missing is shopping. Not the $1000 chair kind of shopping either. Perhaps a gift boutique where you can grab that last minute condo-warming gift your forgot. Or perhaps some new designer undies. Or maybe a new MacBook Pro…..

Rumors have swirled several times in years past about Apple opening a flagship store in Midtown Atlanta. Heavens alive, there is enough technology being used in the Midtown area, and a glance at laptop logos in Starbuck’s at Peachtree and 7th will see plenty of the little apples indeed. There was once talk of the plaza at 999 Peachtree being turned inside out and an Apple Store Midtown Atlanta going there. It would seem Midtown has once again been overlooked by the fruit of the computer world.

CurbedAtlanta reported that a new store is headed for Cumberland Mall. While Cumberland Mall is physically closer to Midtown than Perimeter Mall, there is an Apple store at Lenox Mall in Buckhead. (Just don’t ever, ever go on a Saturday….Yikes!) And of course, the eco-conscious can take MARTA to Lenox or Perimeter Mall…but you will need 4 wheels to get to Cumberland Mall.

While Cumberland Mall will not confirm the addition of an Apple store, their leasing plans indicate otherwise…

So, why can’t we have an Apple Store Midtown Atlanta?

Is Atlanta Ready (or Willing) For Transit?

March 21, 2014 by Thom Abbott

An informative post, but some what of an editorial one as well!

Atlanta is on the rise again! Cranes are coming out of the ground in Midtown and Buckhead as new apartment towers start to take shape. And yes, even the suburbs are on fire again as homes are being built and excess lot inventory is dropping to even critical levels in some areas!

But, is Atlanta Ready (or Willing) to embrace transit as a way to get to and from work? The first portion of an Atlanta Streetcar will open later this year in Downtown, between the Centennial Olympic Park and the Auburn District. Hopefully more to come in the future? Expansion of the MARTA rail line is doubtful due to the cost. So that leave bust transit, probably the most cost effective. So, will Atlanta embrace it…and will we need or use a Downtown Multi-Modal Transit Terminal like this?

Stories about the 119-acre development in the heart of Downtown Atlanta (can you wrap your head around the fact that a major metropolitan area HAS 119 acres in its DOWNTOWN to develop in the first place?) have appeared in both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Curbed. com. It seems the folks at Curbed.com got access to a video that has since disappeared from any and all of the links referenced in each story. But you can see some more of the plans in the Curbed.com article here.

What do you think? Do you see Atlantan’s headed to Downtown from the burbs on buses?

NYC’s coming ‘supertowers’ are nothing to fear

February 16, 2014 by Thom Abbott

See on Scoop.it – Georgia Tech News Events

Who’s afraid of “supertowers” near Central Park? Most of the city’s inflexible preservationists, ivory-tower urbanists, community “activists,” pandering politicians, architectural critics and architects themselves, except for those fortunate enough to…

Thom Abbott‘s insight:

Our “Super Towers” may soon be here with new development planned for Midtown Atlanta at 60 Stories! I say BRING IT ON!!!

See on nypost.com

What Does an Ice Storm Look Like?

February 12, 2014 by Thom Abbott

I grew up in Montana.

One year, when I was a kid, we had to snowmobile a mile from the highway into our house…that’s how much snow we had. I think it was the same year when the snow was piled so high on either side of the road, it was like driving in a tunnel. I’ve seen me some bad weather.

But when they predict freezing rain, or an ice storm in the South, it truly brings everything to a grinding halt. It’s pretty hard to do much when EVERYTHING is covered with a sheet of ice. Imagine you could poor water over your entire car, but it freeze the instant it touched it. THAT is what an ice storm looks like.

We are “hunkered down” in our home, well provisioned, with our fingers still crossed we don’t lose power. So far so good, but the day is not over yet.

It’s been a winter alright….even my friends up North have seen their fair share of snow, snow, and more snow. So I suppose a couple days here is not the end of the world. Well, unless you were in a grocery store yesterday afternoon. Then you might have thought otherwise.