Downtown soon to be home to 2000 new IT jobs (floor, free)

[JPD]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

LOL... It's also uphill from Civic Center to SunTrust Plaza.

Peachtree Center station is just as close, if not closer anyway, if you use the correct exit.

[berkeleylake]

Originally Posted by westau

I know for Suntrust employees they have to pay, I believe they said the monthly rate was in the $120-130 range. Still a lot more than the $0 a month at Wildwood.

You can hunt around in that area and find "bargain" parking for about $80-$100 per month. I used to work near the SunTrust building. I don't remember hourly parking, but probably lucky to score less than $10 per day (no events days). For me anyway, I mostly used MARTA to get there and it was overall a better deal in case of conventions going on.

Also, I would also consider the location to be Downtown, though a good solid block or 2 of walking to the beginning of Midtown just north. I think "The Heart of Downtown" is more like the Five Points MARTA area.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by westau

I know for Suntrust employees they have to pay, I believe they said the monthly rate was in the $120-130 range. Still a lot more than the $0 a month at Wildwood.

I'm surprised the company doesn't spring for employee parking. Is that common these days?

I know our people would have gone berserk about that. We paid 75% of the parking costs, which made their portion pretty nominal, but I always feel like everybody should have some skin in the game.

[westau]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Or $85 bucks for 40 MARTA trips. Probably cheaper than the cost for a lot of the folks to drive to Wildwood.

But even better than that, sell their current place and buy some where like a brand new unit in the Twelve Centennial Condos for $100k and walk the two blocks for free.

Except that most probably would have to drive further just to get to a MARTA station they can park at vs. driving to Wildwood.

Also pretty much anyone who has purchased a house since about 2005 or 2006 is probably at best breaking even and I bet many are underwater so just selling and moving into a tiny azz apartment in town probably isn't feasible(or even something most people want to do).

[westau]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I'm surprised the company doesn't spring for employee parking. Is that common these days?

I know our people would have gone berserk about that. We paid 75% of the parking costs, which made their portion pretty nominal, but I always feel like everybody should have some skin in the game.

I don't know, I do have some other friends that don't have free employee parking in Midtown/Downtown and the MARTA monthly rate went up enough that they started driving last year.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by westau

I don't know, I do have some other friends that don't have free employee parking in Midtown/Downtown and the MARTA monthly rate went up enough that they started driving last year.

I remember reading somewhere that the actual cost to Breeze card customers is only about 50 cents per ride.

That's pretty cheap considering you can go from North Springs to Bankhead and then cruise on down to the airport.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by westau

Also pretty much anyone who has purchased a house since about 2005 or 2006 is probably at best breaking even and I bet many are underwater so just selling and moving into a tiny azz apartment in town probably isn't feasible(or even something most people want to do).

<- Bought in 2009, sold last year for 18% more than purchased for. But it was a "tiny azz" condo in town.

You can choose the suburban lifestyle if that is what you want (Not that there is any problem with that, it has its benefits), but you are going to have to realize that in most cases it going to cost you more to commute and take you longer to commute.

The downtown office location is a more central location for workers in the metro region as a whole, offers very competitive rent, good amenities, good transportation access, and all around a smart move for Coke or most any other company.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by westau

I don't know, I do have some other friends that don't have free employee parking in Midtown/Downtown and the MARTA monthly rate went up enough that they started driving last year.

The monthly rate went up disproportionately to the fare. I did the math somewhere once, but the monthly fare used to be equal to 40 rides bought in packs of 20. Now it's equal to ~45 rides, which means you have to use it more than 10x/week for it to pencil out.

Massively stupid move by MARTA. A monthly pass should cost about 36-38 rides: a slight discount over buying single fares for a 5x/week RT commute to work. This will encourage ridership on the margin, and lead to higher overall revenue.

I highly doubt 45 fares is the revenue-maximizing amount for a monthly pass in a commuter-oriented system.

[jsvh]

Coca-Cola?s new IT division office (SLIDESHOW) - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[arjay57]

Thanks, jsvh.

Nice to see that these folks have gotten over their fear factor. Most of the negative perceptions about downtown just don't pan out in reality.

But Andrew Currie, director of change implementation and communication for Coca-Cola’s Global IT and Global Business Services, said there was quite a bit of skepticism on the part of some employees to move to the downtown office building. “The fear factor was pretty high about going downtown,” he said.

About half of the employees had been working out the company’s Wildwood offices in Cobb County.

Currie said he just asked employees to keep an open mind.

“We had to create a space that really welcomed people,” Currie said. “It certainly is working out really well. Now looking back, people love this space. It is such a light and open space.”

Coca-Cola?s new IT division office (SLIDESHOW) - Atlanta Business Chronicle