Massive Centennial Yards Project Advances Downtown With Key Permit Filing

CIM Group has submitted its first building application for the Gulch redevelopment mixed-use

There is an update to this post: Centennial Yards Releases Refined Site Plan

Centennial Yards Mini City Advances Downtown With Key Permit Filing - Rendering
Rendering: Official

Los Angeles-based CIM Group this week advanced its plans to redevelop the downtown Gulch site — 50 acres of parking lots and former rail-yards — into Centennial Yards, a nearly 12 million-square-foot mixed-use development including retail, office, residential, and hotel. The real estate firm submitted a building permit application with the City of Atlanta for utility work needed to ready the site for vertical construction.

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Specific groundwork outlined in the permit, which carries a $4.5 million price tag, includes the “relocation of existing combined sewer, minor demo, and erosion control to prepare” for the future mixed-use development.

The permit filing arrives on the heels of CIM snatching Nick Garzia from Hines in October to oversee retail leasing for Centennial Yards. Garzia, who spent the past few years remerchandising Atlantic Station, told What Now Atlanta last month that his team would be making some retail announcements before the end of the year. Garzia on Friday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Likely included in the forthcoming announcement will be an “updated master plan,” Bisnow reports. The real estate publication said CIM shared that news with them directly earlier this year. Centennial Yards is expected to cost $5 billion.

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

Caleb J. Spivak

8 Responses

    1. Honestly they never stood a chance with all the money behind this, for the best imo. Our city
      deserves better than a giant pit in the ground in the middle of downtown

  1. The details of that rendering are quite amazing. Even Nelson St bridge is there. I only hope Elliot Street pub is not going down. It’s an institution.

  2. Did this get even lower density from the last rendering? The core area looks like 2-4 story buildings. What a waste.

  3. Hello CIM Group & City of Atlanta,

    The State of Georgia has made over 7 billion dollars from the movie film industry in 2018 but we still have a great opportunity to invest more into the film and music industries so they can film, edit and have world premier releases here in downtown Atlanta. We have a great music culture and we are making a name for ourselves in the film industry but we do not have a true world-class entertainment campus to tie in with our top notch tourist campus in downtown Atlanta.

    The renderings released from the CIM Group for the gulch development falls flat. Its uninspiring and doesn’t address the need for six plus million square feet of needed combined entertainment space with two new hotels, two new venues with an outdoor public plaza not a park (theaters for award shows and other concert options), state of the art bowling/games/restaurants/club facilities, Grammy Museum, Georgia Film Museum, class A & B shopping and an state of the art Regal 34 Movie Theater, etc. i.e. L.A. Live in downtown LA.
    PLEASE SEE SOME COMMINTS FROM CURBED ATLANTA:
    I was told there would be tall buildings. Also a $1 billion in incentives for this?! Lmaooo. It doesn’t even look like it would cost that much.
    That’s it? No tall or landmark building? Boring. Such a waste.
    Will the streets created be private?
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:12 PM reply  rec (1)  flag
    //:0  JD Hance
    At 5 billion they might be toll streets.
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:13 PM up reply  rec (1)  flag
    //:0  Stray Dog THA GAWD
    In a radio interview with 92.9 FM last week, Steve Koonin said there would be private streets. Sad.
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:17 PM up reply  rec  flag
    //:0  Stray Dog THA GAWD
    So instead of the amazing MultiModal Passenger Terminal, we get a few 5 story buildings? Disgusting.
    Underwhelming is an understatement. Don’t look up the Miami Worldcenter site, it puts this one to shame. They really should let Amazon determine if they’re coming here and if so, have a say in the plans. This isn’t very attractive.
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:21 PM reply  rec  flag
    Letmedaythis
    Looks like a knock off of the Battery.
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:31 PM reply  rec  flag
     kkevinantonio
    This is a F’in Joke!!!
    Posted on Aug 21, 2018 | 1:35 PM reply
    Expectations vs Reality strikes again.

    CIM is receiving bad press and impatience from Atlanta City Council & citizens of Atlanta.
    Please see below:

    Atlanta City Councilman Howard Shook expressed frustration with CIM over the presentation during the meeting, especially since the developer had repeatedly bumped its required quarterly presentations to the city in the past. The August presentation was the first in 2020.
    The main presenter for CIM was not present for much of the assigned time slot of the finance/executive committee meeting until very late into the segment. CIM Vice President J. Shannon Crowell told members he was tied up in another meeting.
    “This is the finance committee; as the senior member, that used to mean something,” Shook said. “This presentation looks like it might have been put together by Camp Best Friends. Are they running this project?” 
    Council member Jennifer Ide, who chairs the finance/executive committee on the city council, echoed those frustrations.
    “This didn’t go well,” Ide told CIM attendees. “I gave you a lot of flexibility today. That’s not going to happen in the future, so please get your ducks in a row. If we can all agree to come together with respect and protocols, I think we will have a much better relationship.”
    This is an opportunity to turn this wasteland into the largest and best technologic driven entertainment complex in the world. We could beat out LA, Las Vegas, Times Square, Dubai, Miami and other cities as the entertainment capital of the world to match with the world’s best NFL/MLS Football Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) and a top 3 NBA Arena (State Farm Arena).
    The State of Georgia is the number 1 film location in the world. Atlanta owns and operates the world’s busiest airport with a direct connection to downtown Atlanta via Marta Rail.
    BET Networks is possibly looking to relocate the BET Awards to State Farm Arena. We could possible win bids to host future Grammy Awards, NAACP Image Awards, CMA Awards, American Music Awards and other award shows. So, why not capitalize on these opportunities and build a world class entertainment campus to directly connect the GWCC Campus and reconnect downtown with Central and South Downtown Atlanta?
    The current plans focuses too much on office space and not enough on entertainment, hotels and condo/apt towers.
    The A.T.L. Live / Centennial Yards ENTERTAINMENT Campus needs to be laid out and built identically to L.A. Live in downtown LA. Our A.T.L. Live Plaza needs to look just like the Microsoft Plaza at L.A. Live with 12K High-Def video boards, movie lights on top of the buildings, our two theaters (Netflix & Hattie McDaniel Theaters) need to be built on both sides of Netflix Plaza just like the Microsoft Plaza at L.A. Live. Our Atlanta Sports heroes/hall of famers statues need to be located on the plaza of State Farm Arena i.e. the LA Sports heroes on the plaza of the Staples Center directly across from L.A. Live’s Microsoft Plaza in downtown LA.
    Once the design for A.T.L. Live Entertainment Complex between Marietta Street and Mitchell Street and construction permits are approved we need to bid for the following:
    2030 Super Bowl 
    2030 NBA All*Star Game
    2030 NFL Draft
    2030 NBA Draft
    2030 MLS All Star Game
    2030 Grammy Awards
    2030 NAACP Image Awards 
    2030 BET Awards
    2030 Country Music Awards 
    2030 American Music Awards 
    2030 Soul Train Awards 
    2030 Miss America pageant 
    2030 Miss USA pageant 
    2030 Miss Universe pageant 
    2030 SAG Awards 
    2030 Trumpet Awards
    2030 Emmys 
    2030 ESPY Awards
    2030 Golden Globes Awards
    2030 Tony Awards
    2030 African American Black Film Festival Awards
    2030 Essence Festival 
    2030 NBA Awards
    Please review my ideas/proposal for A.T.L. Live Entertainment Complex:
    A.T.L. Live Entertainment Complex
    A.T.L. Live would be an entertainment complex in the Centennial Park District of Downtown AtlantaGeorgia. It would be built on top of the “gulch” across from the CNN Center, State Farm Arena and Georgia World Congress Center from Marietta Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, and between MLK Jr. Drive and Mitchell Street. Netflix’s “HQ2” would be built between Mitchell Street and Peters Street with above/underground pedestrian walkways to “HQ2’s” second part of their campus on top and around the Garnett Marta Station. In addition, A.T.L. Live will have its footprint between the small open gulch area between The Mercedes-Benz and State Farm Arena on Andrew Young International Blvd.

    A.T.L. Live would be developed by CIM Group, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Wachovia Corp, Azteca Corp, investment firm MacFarlane Partners, The CIM Group, The Atlanta Hawks, The Atlanta Falcons and The Georgia World Congress Center, and with tax deferments paid by Atlanta taxpayers and/or Hotel/Motel Taxes. It would cost approximately US$2.5 billion to build. The architectural firm responsible for the master plan and phase two buildings would be Baltimore-based RTKL Associates and The CIM Group.
     
    Features
    A.T.L. Live would have 5,600,000 square feet (520,257 m2) of ballrooms, bars, concert theatres, restaurants, movie theaters, and a 64-story hotel and condominium tower.
     
    Netflix SquareNetflix Square would be a 40,000-square-foot (3,716 m2) open-air plaza that serves as the central meeting place for A.T.L. Live. The Square would provide a broadcast venue featuring giant LED screens as well as a red carpet site for special events. This plaza would be located directly across the East/Centennial Olympic Park Drive Entrance of State Farm Arena. See the statues of LA Athletes located outside of the Staples Center and the Microsoft Plaza at L.A. Live in downtown LA.
    Netflix Theatre would be a music and theatre venue seating 7,100, while The House of Blues (another music venue-move the Tabernacle to A.T.L. Live) will be an intimate venue with a seating capacity of 2,300 for live music and cultural events. The theatre (Netflix Theatre) could host the ESPY Awards and other events. The Apple Theatre could bid to host The MTV Awards, the Soul Train Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards and live concerts.
    State Farm Arena
    State Farm Arena should add more statues of iconic Atlanta professional athletes i.e. the current Dominque Wilkins statue outside the east/centennial Olympic Park Drive Entrance of State Farm Arena., etc. They should add these statues during the construction of the Netflix Square Plaza of the future A.T.L. Live Entertainment Complex directly across the street of the East/Centennial Olympic Park Drive Entrance of State Farm Arena. Please see the statues of LA Athletes located outside of the Staples Center and the Microsoft Plaza at L.A. Live in downtown LA.
    The Grammy Museum
    The museum would consist of four floors with historical music artifacts. It would feature a number of exhibits. The Grammy Music Museum would be designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Meier. Please review the Academy Museum-Theater Campus at Fairfax/Wilshire in LA for example of how to build The Grammy Museum on the A.T.L. Live Entertainment Campus in downtown Atlanta.
    Hotels and residencesThe centerpiece of the district would be a 64-story, 1,101-room two-hotel hybrid tower, constructed above the gulch parking lot directly east of the CNN Center. Designed by Gensler and built by Webcor Builders, the skyscraper would contain both an 879-room JW Marriott hotel on floors 3 through 21 and a 123-room Ritz-Carlton hotel on floors 22 through 26. Floors 27 through 52 hold 224 Residences at the Ritz Carlton condominiums. The tower’s architectural design would evolve from a “geometric pattern of glittering, blue-tinted glass.” Thirty-four different types of glass would be installed to create the uniquely patterned facade. Groundbreaking for the tower should take place in 2023.The project would be completed in the first quarter of 2028 just in time for the possible NFL Super Bowl in year 2028.
    The Marriott Hotels would open a second two-hotel hybrid tower with 393 rooms just between Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Mitchell Street behind The Richard B. Russell Federal Building on top of the gulch with a Marriott Courtyard and a Residence Inn.
    There would be The Wyndham Hotel Group high-rise constructed south, where the old railway office buildings are located inside the gulch between Mitchell Street and Mangum Street. The new building would be connected by a bridge under the roadway to Phillips Arena Plaza and will have future underground connection to the Five Points Marta Station in Five Points- Atlanta. When completed, the Wyndham Hotel Group tower would be the second-largest hotel in Georgia.
    Fox Sports Zone and broadcasting studios
    The Studio will be a 12,300-square-foot (1,140 m2) Fox Sports broadcasting studio, as well as a Fox Sports Zone restaurant. In an effort to expand coverage of Southeast sports.
     
    NFL Zone and broadcasting studios
    The studio will be a 14,000-square-foot studio with SE Region NFL offices.
     NBA Zone and broadcasting studiosThe studio will be a 10,000—square-foot studio with SE Region NBA Offices. Food Network SE Regional Office and broadcasting studiosThe studio will be a 10,000—square-foot studio with SE Region Food Network Offices MLS Zone and broadcasting studiosThe studio will be a 12,000-square-foot studio with SE Region MLS (Soccer) Offices. ESPN Zone and broadcasting studiosThe studio will be a 13,000-square-foot broadcast studio and offices. TNT TV StudiosTheir current midtown Atlanta studio would move from GA Tech to A.T.L. Live Entertainment Campus. Regal Entertainment GroupThe $100 million, 140,000 square feet, Regal Entertainment Group movie complex would include 14 screens and 3,772 seats. It will include a three-story art-deco-style atrium and an 806-seat theater called the “Regal Premiere House” intended for “lucrative” premieres. The theater complex will become the Southeast flagship location for Regal, the largest theater chain in the United States.
     
    RestaurantsA.T.L. Live will host a set of mid to high scale dining.
     
    Coca- Cola Field, City of Atlanta- Arthur Ash Tennis Center, U.S. Cricket League Stadium & future expansionAtlanta should plan for an expansion  MLB to return to Downtown Atlanta with a new stadium planned on the campus, to be called Coca-Cola Field. The Atlanta City Council should meet with MLB and approve a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU). This non-binding MOU would clear the way for AEG to start the next phase of the project, which should a development application and obtaining environmental clearances. The development application would include schematic designs of the stadium as well as an Environmental Impact Report. Once completed, the development application will be submitted to the City of Atlanta for its consideration and possible approval. The city would plan and build a new indoor/outdoor retractable roof tennis stadium on the GWCC Campus. The city would name the tennis stadium “City of Atlanta- Arthur Ash Tennis Center”. The city would host the BB&T Final Match and other WTA Tennis Events as well as tennis training camps and events such as weddings, Tennis Hall of Fame Dinners, Weddings, etc. If East Atlanta can host a major golf event every year, we can have a new tennis stadium in downtown Atlanta and host tennis events every year as well.
    A new American league MLB Team will do great here in downtown Atlanta. Since the Atlanta Braves moved to Cobb County, GA., Atlanta doesn’t have a MLB Team. The Braves wanted to move to where most of their fans are located, so that left Atlanta-Fulton County out of a team. An AL team would bring teams like the Yankees, White Socks, Red Socks, the Rangers, the A’s, the Angels, the Astros, etc. to Atlanta on a regular basis. The city of Atlanta has citizens from these cities. The new 40,000 seat baseball stadium and the new Atlanta team would be well supported. If not a new team, lobby for the Tampa Bay Rays to move to downtown Atlanta. The new team would be named “The Atlanta Thrashers” or “The Atlanta Ravens”.
     
    The AEG would plan to submit significant expansion plans to the Planning Department. It would include “332,618 square feet (30,901.2 m2) of office space and a 269,182-square-foot (25,007.8 m2) broadcasting studio that could accommodate a nationwide cable television network, a 275-room hotel and a 25-story residential building with 65 units adjacent to the A.T.L. Live campus.
     
    U.S. Cricket League Stadium
    The City of Atlanta needs to bid for the construction of the US Cricket League Stadium on the GWCC Campus. The Cricket League wants to build their stadium with hotels, retail and residence towers around it. If they built this in downtown Atlanta, those amenities are already in place, which would reduce the price of construction for the US Cricket League.
    Please see the below article:
    Real estate scouts have descended upon Atlanta in a hunt for the perfect place to build—ambitiously—a mixed-use hub and cricket stadium within three years.
    The recently established U.S. Cricket League has selected Atlanta as one of eight charter cities in states with established cricket followings (and generally large populations).
    Other stadium and “lifestyle” centers will spring up in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Florida, Texas, Illinois, and California, according to officials with Global Sports Ventures.
    Officials say the stadiums alone will cost between $70 and $125 million and will include hotels, restaurants, retail, and even residential and office components.
    In each city, the sporty mixed-use projects will be individually designed to “create an exciting and interactive lifestyle center while generating significant economic impact,” per a press release.
    We’ve asked for renderings—and even the vaguest indication of where this all could be built—and will post updates if they come. Targeted sites in all eight cities are expected to be unveiled shortly, the release states.
    Global Sports Ventures has teamed with JLL Sports & Entertainment Group for advice on site selection and negotiations. That could be really significant.
    Locally, JLL provided the Atlanta Braves “the entire spectrum of real estate and advisory services” in the development of SunTrust Park and the adjacent, mixed-use The Battery, officials said.
    After the U.S. Cricket League launches in Atlanta and seven sister cities in 2020, league honchos expect to add up to six additional markets.
    “We know our plans are ambitious, and GSV is committed to launching a professional cricket league in the U.S. by 2020,” said Jay Pandya, Global Sport Ventures chairman. “We are quite impressed with the job [JLL] did with the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park and The Battery, and other similar stadium-centric assignments across the country.”
    The CIM Group and Netflix needs to purchase the surface parking lots and stand-alone parking decks at the corners of Centennial Olympic Park Drive @ Marietta Street, Luckie Street, Andrew Young International Blvd and John Portman Boulevard and build high-rise commercial, hotels/residential affordable housing.
     
    The Hattie McDaniel – Atlanta Theater
    The Hattie McDaniel – Atlanta Theater would be a live-performance auditorium in the A.T.L. Live Complex, on Centennial Olympic Park Drive, in the Centennial Olympic Park District of Atlanta, United States. The theater would host, The NAACP Image Award Ceremonies and many other award events.
     

    ArchitectureThe theater would be designed by David Rockwell of the Rockwell Group, with Theatre Projects Consultants, specifically with the NAACP Image Award Ceremonies in mind. Though the stage would be one of the largest in the United States —— measuring 113 ft (34 m) wide and 60 ft (18 m) deep, its seating capacity would be only about half the Hall of Music’s, accommodating 3,332 people.
    The result of astute planning and technical design, the auditorium would be a successful as a venue for televised theatrical performance (i.e. American Idol and the Academy Awards). The architectural team consulted extensively with leading production personnel in Hollywood, achieving a highly functional cable infrastructure, with an underground cable bunker that crosses under the theater to truck locations on adjacent streets. Power is also substantial and accessible. The theater will have a unique, Rockwell-designed cockpit in the orchestra seating area for camera, sound, and stage management.
    The hall from the front entrance to the grand stairway (leading up to the theater) would be flanked by storefronts, as well as Art Deco columns displaying the names of past recipients of the NAACP  Image Award winners, with blank spaces left for future winners. In a fashion reminiscent of Hollywood movie-making, the building would be dressed before the awards ceremony, sometimes with a different sign on its facade, red drapery to hide its storefronts, and red carpet running up its grand stairway.
     

    Other eventsThe theater would host the AFI Life Achievement Award, the ESPY Awards for excellence in sports performance, the NAACP Image Awards and,  Daytime Emmy Awards and It could also host the Miss USA.
    While The Hattie McDaniel – Atlanta Theater would host public cultural events, such as concerts and other performances, it would also occasionally serve private purposes, such as weddings. ********* SEE MY ATTACHMENTS OF L.A. LIVE IN LA************

    Thank you,

    Kevin Williams

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