Walkable Urbanity Arrives In Atlanta

"'Make no little plans' was the sentiment espoused by the celebrated architect and city planner Daniel H. Burnham at the turn of the last century, and it seems to be making a comeback at the turn of this one. From Denver to Dallas to downtown Los Angeles, multibillion-dollar large-scale mixed-used developments are taking shape. But Atlantic Station here is Exhibit A.

Atlantic Station is not only extraordinarily large, but it is also being built on a formerly contaminated site that was home to a hundred-year-old steel mill, which ceased operation in 1998. Now, the location has become a city within a city on 138 acres with retail, residential, commercial and public space in Midtown Atlanta, the commercial district. And the development seems to be exceeding the expectations of some people.

It will be several more years before the project, which is about half finished, is completed. If it all happens as planned, the $2 billion investment will create a total of 13 million new square feet -- about 50 percent larger than the huge Atlantic Yards project proposed in Brooklyn."