Turner Field's Akward Location (Atlanta, Auburn: buying, place to live, restaurants)

[cqholt]

The Ted suffers from being surrounded by a sea of parking lots and nothing else. All the stadiums on the OP are not surrounded by parking lots and offer visitors activities outside of the game. The plans to transform the parking lots is a great idea.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Gulch

To figure out why COS/The Ted wasn't built closer to Downtown and MARTA, you have to go back to 1990/91. ACOG and the city/state were under a time crunch and needed a large chunk of land for a stadium cheaply and quickly that was within the "Olympic Ring" (3 mile radius from Peachtree/International). The only place in their view that fit the criteria was the south parking lot of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, and the only real opposition to that was Summerhill/Peoplestown.

Personally, I think the stadium should've been built closer to a MARTA station either at Grady Homes (King Memorial station) or the GWCC/Dome/Gulch area (Vine City/Omni stations). But, that ship has long sailed and as been noted by many posters, the best option now would be to develop the Ted's parking lots and maybe build a LRT/streetcar line down Capitol Avenue.

But what strikes me as funny is that under an extreme time crunch, Centennial Park was put together. Suddenly I heard talk about making the park, needing a lot of money to buy up the properties, and money to build it. I didn't think there was enough time to do all that but...boom...it was done in time.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The Ted suffers from being surrounded by a sea of parking lots and nothing else. All the stadiums on the OP are not surrounded by parking lots and offer visitors activities outside of the game. The plans to transform the parking lots is a great idea.

But offhand, I doubt what they would build would compel me to go there. If Underground can't attract enough business, why would people want to go down there? There are 81 games not counting playoffs so that would fill the area for just a small portion of the year. And is there an excess of parking spaces that can be developed on? Without adequate parking, it might hurt attendance.

[CAWjr]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

But offhand, I doubt what they would build would compel me to go there. If Underground can't attract enough business, why would people want to go down there? There are 81 games not counting playoffs so that would fill the area for just a small portion of the year. And is there an excess of parking spaces that can be developed on? Without adequate parking, it might hurt attendance.

That's why any viable plan needs to incorporate several key things:

• Adequate parking for people who still want to drive to games (less than today)
• Adequate public transit to handle the fans who are willing to give up their cars (more than today)
• Bars/Restaurants/Shopping that will draw people to the area 365 days a year & not just 81 days a year

The third one is the biggest challenge. To your point, no one wants this development to become another Underground Atlanta, but how do you successfully force people who live north of the city to drive past Buckhead, Midtown, and Downtown to go to this area from October to March? And how do you keep people who live south of the city from driving past it to their more familiar in-town spots?

[Seatlien]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Well, for one, it puts the Braves on top of MARTA Heavy Rail. Second, the Baseball [home] season lasts a quarter of the year, spread over half a year. The football [home] season lasts about one sixth of a year spread across a third of a year. The remainder with some overlap consists of the basketball season. With the latter only having activities from around October to April, why would any sports-oriented business setup shop near one of Atlanta's two sports sites when business will be nonexistent for half the year? Answer: they wouldn't. Bringing the Braves to the Falcons and Hawks would create an environment for numerous sports-related businesses, and other businesses that can profit off of gameday crowds, which in turn can generate substantial tax revenue. Providing a central focus also creates a better overall environment, that will draw more people to downtown.

The more I contemplate the situation, the more I agree with MattCW.

It's going to take an enormous amount of money for the Turner Field project if you have to add fixed transit and add parking garages - so much money that I don't believe any public or private entity can/will do it. And even then, you're not guaranteed good results. Having a central, sports entertainment area that's active year-round beats having two that are, for the most part, blighted and abandoned except for game days.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

You gotta love the interstates...it's essentially a river of Asphalt. We wouldn't even be complaining about the stadium's location if we didn't have huge highways dividing the city left and right. Why couldn't we do like Tokyo did and have highways running above the city?

For years Boston was plagued by the overhead highways. They really cut up the town about as much as Atlanta's downtown connector - hence the Big Dig. But, who's got $20 billion or so sitting around these days? Wish there was a solution to our downtown connector issue, but afraid for now there is likely not.

[atlantagreg30127]

NOTE: The actual topic is in the first posting folks.

Please get back on topic. Thank you.

[therealpattman]

If the zoo and Grant park where next door I could see Turner Field and its surrounding areas blooming. In its current state the stadium is almost doomed to be relocated. Folks on here talk about bringing MARTA to Turner Field, I finding it hard to believe the citizens of Fulton and Dekalb Counties spending millions to do this, so do not be surprised when money is being requested for a smaller more modern venue closer to the dome and Philips Arena in the next few years.

[HH82]

Originally Posted by CAWjr

That's why any viable plan needs to incorporate several key things:

• Adequate parking for people who still want to drive to games (less than today)
• Adequate public transit to handle the fans who are willing to give up their cars (more than today)
• Bars/Restaurants/Shopping that will draw people to the area 365 days a year & not just 81 days a year

The third one is the biggest challenge. To your point, no one wants this development to become another Underground Atlanta, but how do you successfully force people who live north of the city to drive past Buckhead, Midtown, and Downtown to go to this area from October to March? And how do you keep people who live south of the city from driving past it to their more familiar in-town spots?

Any development will have to incorporate lots of mixed-income housing and bring that area the basic neighborhood needs it has lacked for forty years: Grocery stores, banks, restaurants, retail, etc. Or it won't work. It doesn't need to be so much a tourist attraction as a permanent place to live that is sewn into the surrounding communities. The Braves have the out-of-towners covered. If a real neighborhood connection is established and community needs are served, the development will be successful. If it's just a shiny new place for Braves fans to hang out for a while 81 days a year, it will fall on its face. I'm hoping they really put some thought into it instead of just grabbing at the pie in the sky. And yes, structured parking is an absolute MUST, no matter what Mike Plant thinks.

[baruman]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

^ When will Turner Field be "too old"? With periodic renovations, it should last indefinitely.

And it's located beside the Connector and near I-20 so it has a great location for access. A spot like that is not good for a park. If Turner Field leaves, that area should be for business or even GSU. Maybe even make it a Parking Deck Farm with LRT access to it and from downtown.

The area has a problem in that it abuts the interstate on two sides. Nobody wants to live there. Turner Field isnt moving. The real issue is what to do with the 55 acres of parking area next to the stadium, the several acres of lagely abandoned retail on Georgia Avenue and now add to that the Georgia Archives building and plot. An Atlantic Station development is unlikely. Atlantic Station at least was next to neighborhoods that would drive the retail numbers. A Glenwood Park development is even more unlikely as Glenwood Park is a one of a kind type development we may not see again ever. The low hanging fruit approach will have them grab one of those proposals presented in the AJC. The logical choice is to partner with the one institution that 1) need space and 2) has been gobbling up and redeveloping central business district land for 40 years. This is where I wish Carl Patton was still running GSU instead of an administration that sees downtown as where they work from 8 to 5.