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U.S. NEWS Friday 26 January 2018

Atlanta development proposal just happens to be Amazon-sized

By JEFF MARTIN set, according to planning
Associated Press documents from the Atlan-
ATLANTA (AP) — As Atlanta ta Regional Commission.
vies for Amazon’s second Hollywood crews used it to
headquarters, a developer film scenes from the 2016
just happens to be pro- movie “Captain America:
posing a $5 billion down- Civil War.” The AMC TV
town project with 9.3 mil- show “The Walking Dead”
lion square feet (87 million filmed from a rooftop over-
square meters) of office looking The Gulch during
space — more than three the show’s first season.
times the amount in the The office space would be
Empire State Building. spread throughout 14 of
No one’s saying it’s for Am- the buildings, which would
azon — yet. range in height from 70 to
Details of the massive pro- 500 feet (21 to 152 meters),
posed development are the planning documents
coming into view from pub- state. It would also include
lic records and comments. a 350-foot (107-meter) ho-
An architect working with tel with 1,500 rooms and
Los Angeles-based devel- three residential towers.
opment firm CIM Group Metro Atlanta now has
presented its proposal about 146 million square A tract of land known to locals as The Gulch is shown Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Atlanta. As Atlanta
vies to entice Amazon to build its second headquarters on the site, local leaders are studying a
Thursday to an Atlanta feet (13.6 million square proposal to build a $5 billion project with more than three times the office space of New York’s
business group. Christopher meters) of office space, Empire State Building.
Sciarrone never mentioned and the proposed proj- (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Amazon during the one- ect would be an increase
hour presentation. of about 6.4 percent, said
But when asked after the Barbara Denham, a senior
meeting whether the proj- economist at New York-
ect would suit Amazon’s based Reis Inc., which
criteria for its new head- tracks commercial real es-
quarters, Sciarrone said “it tate.
would seem to.” He add- It would take at least 60,000
ed that he does not know jobs to fill all the office
whether the project is be- space being proposed,
ing pitched as a site for Denham said.
Amazon. However, the metro area
Public documents filed by has been adding jobs at
the group don’t mention a rapid rate. Metro Atlan-
Amazon, but specifications ta had seen some of the
of its proposed project are highest rates of job growth
in line with the retail giant’s in the U.S., adding 37,100
requirements. office jobs last year for a
“The big vision for the de- growth rate of nearly 5 per-
veloper is this really vibrant, cent, Denham said.
urban, mixed-use commu- Asked whether the project
nity that’s walkable, that’s would move forward with
lively 24/7, that’s not just or without Amazon, Sciar-
asphalt parking lots,” Sciar- rone said after Thursday’s
rone said. meeting, “we hope so.”
The office space that would “My first question is not just
be created “is almost ex- building size, but infrastruc-
actly two Sears Towers,” ture,” Denham said. “Do
said Thomas Leslie, an ar- you have the infrastructure
chitecture professor at to take on that much in
Iowa State University who terms of public transporta-
is the author of “Chicago tion, highway and road ac-
Skyscrapers, 1871-1934.” cess,” Denham said.
“It would be like building At Thursday’s meeting, Sci-
two of them right next to arrone noted the existence
each other,” Leslie said of two rail transit stations
of the 110-story Chicago at each end of the devel-
high-rise, which has since opment. He said the team
been renamed Willis Tower. working on the project has
The Atlanta development discussed access to the sta-
would include 18 build- tions with representatives
ings in a part of downtown of the Metropolitan Atlanta
known as “The Gulch,” now Rapid Transit Authority, and
covered with vast parking that public transit would be
decks and vacant lots and a key component of the
sometimes used as a film development.q