News Archives

Midtown Alliance Receives LCI Grant for Transit Station Designs

February 9, 2013 by Thom Abbott

Midtown Alliance Receives LCI Grant for Transit Station Designs

The Midtown Alliance has received a Living Centers Initiative (LCI) Grant to study and design potential enhancements around transit stations. According to the LCI website from the Atlanta Regional Commission:

The Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) is a program that awards planning grants on a competitive basis to local governments and nonprofit organizations to prepare plans for the enhancement of existing centers and corridors consistent with regional development policies.

In a seminar a couple years ago, I heard from a major urban planner (his name escapes me at the moment) about how Atlanta’s transit system stations lacked the vitality that many cities have. In other words, they were a train station and nothing else. Quite true when you think about a MARTA station. There is no interaction at the station level, of which all of them are underground. But if you go to other major cities, they have small shops, retail, etc. around the stations.

I suspect this plan will involve street-level enhancements of some kind.

Midtown Atlanta is home to THREE of the MARTA stops leaving Downtown. North Avenue, Midtown (10th Street) and the Arts Center Station (16th Street).

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this study and what changes will be made in Midtown Atlanta.

Avis’ buy of tiny Zipcar could be in antitrust fast lane

January 14, 2013 by Thom Abbott

See on Scoop.it – Midtown Atlanta Conversations and Condos

When car rental giant Avis announced in early January that it planned to buy Zipcar, hipsters across the United States gnashed their teeth in unison.”

The quirky Zipcar is admired for its new approach to car rental. Young, monied professionals who have decided to live car-free and broke college students can join and then rent a car for $11.25 an hour, often without leaving their neighborhood.

There are numerous ZipCar locations throughout Midtown Atlanta!
See on www.foxbusiness.com

Mortgages – Avoiding Loan-Modification Hoaxes

January 13, 2013 by Thom Abbott

See on Scoop.it – Other Atlanta News Events

Consumer advocates say a growing number of questionable modification services involve lawyers, or people who say they are lawyers.

Thom Abbott‘s insight:

If you are considering, or looking into a loan modification from any source other than directly from your lender, the phrase “Buyer Beware” could never be truer!

See on www.nytimes.com

Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, City Council To Hand Out Bike Lights

December 14, 2012 by Thom Abbott

Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond is partnering with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition to promote bicycle safety. Bond is donating bicycle lights for the annual “Let’s Get Visible” initiative followed by a bicycle “Tour de Lights” on Friday, Dec. 14. He and members of ABC will hold a news conference in Woodruff Park at 6 p.m. to promote the annual initiative.

Bond, chairman of the council’s public safety committee, decided to donate 200 lights to ABC’s effort to ensure that all Atlanta area cyclists in need of a light have access to one. Bond will distribute the lights to ABC volunteers, who in turn will pass them along to cyclists they encounter in need during evening hours.

Georgia law requires a front white light and rear red light or reflector, but too many cyclists lack the proper lighting to be visible to drivers during winter months, when they are more likely to ride in dark conditions. While cycling is a safe activity that can add years to one’s life, being seen is key to avoiding a crash. This initiative focuses on distributing lights to those who would otherwise be riding in the dark without them, especially low-income riders and students.

Volunteers riding in pairs or teams approach bicyclists riding without lights to offer a light donation. Recipients are first surprised, then grateful that the city and a nonprofit take such an interest in their safety and well-being. The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) contributes to this project by funding the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s safety, education, and awareness raising activities. GOHS strives to make Georgia’s roads as safe as possible.

Following the light distribution, cyclists will take off for Mobile Social’s Tour de Lights bike ride throughout the city, touring some of the best holiday light destinations in Atlanta. The ride will end at Westside Octane Coffee.

Friday’s event is part of ABC’s bimonthly Mobile Social, the organization’s largest group ride that take place the second Friday of every month. The aim of these Mobile Socials is to recruit more people on bicycles, explore the city, and to support local businesses.

Sadly, the only “bike” I ride is in a gym. But this story just inspired me….and I think I just might be bike shopping soon! Ah, then it will be the bike rack on the car…..then…wait…I’m getting carried away here! First things first!

Michael Tyler, Atlanta City Council contributed the content of this story! Thanks Michael!

GWCCA approves Falcons stadium blueprint

December 10, 2012 by Thom Abbott

See on Scoop.it – Midtown Atlanta Conversations and Condos

The blueprint for a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons was approved early Monday in a special called meeting of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority.
The state agency, in a unanimous decision, gave its thumbs up to a “term sheet,” which lays out the business terms with team for a new field, including who will pay for it, how the revenue will be divided and who will own the building.
Left of out the agreement, which is the first step in the process but not a final deal, is actually where the stadium will be constructed. The parties are looking at building the stadium either one block south of the Georgia Dome along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive or about one-half mile north on Northside Drive.
The “term sheet” is non-binding and changes can be made over the coming months.
Leaders, who want the building open for the 2017 season, now have to work on a Memoradum of Understanding, which will be closer to the final contract. That process is expected to be completed in mid-January, said Frank Poe, executive director of the GWCCA.
The parties are discussing building a $948 million retractable roof stadium, thought most expect the price to be closer to $1 billion. About $300 million of the cost will come from hotel-motel tax collections from Atlanta and unincorporated Fulton County. The Falcons will be responsible for the rest.

See on www.ajc.com

Twitter Builds a Bigger Bird House In Atlanta

December 8, 2012 by Thom Abbott

I can remember when I FIRST got on Twitter in Atlanta! It was already a big thing on the West Coast. I searched for people to follow, and there were like 300 people in Atlanta. REALLY!!!! How Big is Twitter in ATL now?

Twitter Takes 100,000 sq. ft. in Downtown Atlanta Data Center

The expanded bird house (a.k.a. data center expansion) will cost upwards of $300 million in facility build out and servers, computers and other electronic equipment, according to The Atlanta Business Chronicle.

In October 2011, Twitter took 50,000 square feet in the data center, located at 1033 Jefferson Street. This expansion will triple Twitter’s footprint in the 1-million sq. ft data center.

Now, as a real estate broker, I’m all about location, especially when it comes to describing where someplace is. The Atlanta Business Chronicle article references this data center in DOWNTOWN Atlanta. I’m thinking….1 MILLION sq.ft in Downtown….WHAT building would that be?

Ah, my good friend and trusty helper, Mr. Google Maps gave me a different persepective. The Data Center is actually located WEST of the Georgia Tech Campus and close to the King Plow Arts Center. I’d be a bit more inclined to call that Midtown West, don’t you think?

[srpmap lat=”33.775701″ lng=”-84.42227930000001″]

1033 Jefferson Street
Atlanta, GA 30318

[/srpmap]

Whatever the case, Atlanta is a bigger technology hub than most people realize! Two of the country’s largest fiber routes interconnect in metro Atlanta, resulting in a built-in, high-tech ecosystem for data centers, creating the Southeast’s largest concentration of telecom companies. Google, Hewlett Packard have a presence here. Companies such as Advanced Micro Devices and ByteGrid are opening data centers in Suwanee and Alpharetta.

Midtown Alliance Receives LCI Grant for Transit Station Designs

Twitter Takes 100,000 sq. ft. in Downtown Atlanta Data Center

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