ATLANTA — When it comes to creating a “connected Atlanta,” experts say the foundation is in building a connected community. At a Nov. 2 luncheon hosted by the Atlanta chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW Atlanta), representatives from Atlanta’s local transit authority, MARTA, and Dallas-based development firm KDC highlighted projects around the city all centered around a common theme: mass transit.
“MARTA has five transit-oriented development (TOD) projects in various stages of development along the north and east rail lines,” said Debbie Frank, senior development project manager in MARTA’s office of TOD and Real Estate. “These developments are vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and generally integrated within our spaces.”
The projects are part of MARTA’s larger goal to increase ridership, generate revenue and support both local community development and regional economic development. Each project will utilize underused parking lots for new commercial and residential development, which will include apartments, office space and retail.
“We want to take a different approach to parking by reducing the number of parking spaces provided in our TOD projects,” said Frank. “A foundational principle of TOD is one that reflects the replacement of some car trips. Not all, but some, by taking the train, walking or biking.”
Each TOD project requires a park or a plaza, and 20 percent of all housing must be affordable for those earning 80 percent or less of the area median income (AMI).
According to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), working families in the Atlanta region with annual incomes between $20,000 and $50,000 spend 61 percent of their yearly budget on combined housing and transportation costs. The same study notes that 40 percent of Atlanta city households make $31,200 or less. Equitable TOD strategies like MARTA’s give households the option to drive less, saving transportation costs and leaving more income for the cost of housing.
At the Edgewood Candler Park station, MARTA — in partnership with Columbia Ventures — is underway on Spoke, a TOD project that will include 224 apartment units (20 percent reserved for affordable housing), 10,000 square feet of retail space and 20,000 square feet of cultural space, including a performing arts center. The project is located on 6.4 acres of surface parking on the south side of the station. The apartment units are on track to open by late January 2018.
Similar projects are either under construction or in the planning stage at the Avondale Station in Decatur, the Chamblee station, King Memorial station in historic Grant Park and East Lake station on College Avenue.
In addition to TOD projects, MARTA has a number of programs underway at various stations to enhance the customer experience. At the Five Points, West End, College Park and H.E. Holmes stations, passengers have access to a weekly farmer’s market. The Fresh MARTA Market is an initiative to provide patrons with access to fresh and local produce during their commute.
The Five Points station also boasts a soccer field on top of the station — the first of its kind in the world. The project was developed in partnership with local nonprofit Soccer in the Streets and Atlanta’s new Major League Soccer club Atlanta United to provide a healthy and safe place for kids and adults to play.
Additionally, ArtBound, launched in June of this year and now in 35 MARTA stations, includes permanent and temporary visual art including music, dance and theater.
“Almost every project we see come to Atlanta wants to be around MARTA,” said Alex Chambers, regional vice president at KDC. “It’s not just about the rail, it’s about what’s going on in and around MARTA.”
MARTA: A Good Neighbor
As development surrounding public transit becomes the norm, it comes as no surprise that corporations want in on the action.
KDC is leading the development of Park Center, a 2.2 million-square-foot office campus in Dunwoody that will include three buildings and house 8,000 employees upon completion.
For State Farm, convenient access to public transit topped the list of amenities when choosing a site for its Southeast regional hub. At its new home at Park Center in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter office submarket, it would be hard to get any closer.
The first building of the campus is connected to the Dunwoody MARTA station. Designed by Atlanta-based Cooper Carry & Associates, the 600,000-square-foot building was delivered last year and houses 2,000 employees.
Phase II of Park Center will include two office towers totaling 1.2 million square feet and will feature a pedestrian bridge over Perimeter Center Parkway that will connect the two towers to the Phase I building and the transit station.
“You can get from the building to the MARTA station in about 30 steps,” said Chambers. “We’ve done everything we can to make it an easy ride.”
The final phases of the Park Center project are expected to deliver in 2020.
KDC also led the development of State Farm’s new campus in Richardson, Texas. The new CityLine campus provides employees with access to more than 40 restaurants in a walkable, amenity-rich environment. Proximity to the DART rail line and ample parking offers reliable access for employees.
“There used to be very little consideration given to transit access and the corporate site selection process,” said Frank. “Now we are seeing transit access as an important factor in those decisions.”
Atlanta’s population continues to surge, and the need for public transportation is becoming more of a priority. The ARC reports the 20-county Atlanta region will add 2.5 million people by 2040, bringing the region’s population to more than 8 million.
Atlanta natives realize that public transportation improvement is important to the city’s growth as 51 percent of respondents said they’d be willing to pay more in taxes to fund expanded public transit, according to the ARC’s Metro Atlanta Speaks 2017 Survey.
The survey also reported that 94 percent of respondents said improving public transit is “very important” or “somewhat important” to metro Atlanta’s future. That’s up from 88 percent in 2013.
As walkability and convenience become more important to today’s working generation, it’s clear that citizens and businesses alike in Atlanta are seeing the need for an effective MARTA system, which Chambers says has overcome a negative perception from Atlanta residents in previous years.
“MARTA used to be a little bit of a pariah,” said Chambers. “Now, new developments can’t physically get close enough to MARTA. As an Atlantan, that’s exciting to see.”
— Camren Skelton