Fuqua and Glenwood Result? (zoned, malls, safe)

[demonta4]

I'm hoping one day when this area reaches a decent level of density, these parking lots will be replaced with parks, apartments, retail, or anything other than what is there now. It was literally a backwards idea to place a large parking lot in the shadow of Downtown Atlanta. This area is becoming to dense for this.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by demonta4

I'm hoping one day when this area reaches a decent level of density, these parking lots will be replaced with parks, apartments, retail, or anything other than what is there now. It was literally a backwards idea to place a large parking lot in the shadow of Downtown Atlanta. This area is becoming to dense for this.

Me too. I am hopeful market forces will drive this area to be redeveloped relatively quickly. Especailly when the Beltline is connect down here. Those big boxes are usually only built to last a decade or two anyways. Some pieces such as the planned office mid-rise on the site of the Chick-fil-a will happen even sooner.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I really do feel like it was a mistake allowing CFA to have a drive thru as many users are rolling while looking thru their bag.

Someone's going to get hurt there eventually. Having a drive-thru restaurant exit cross over the primary pedestrian entrance to the shopping center was a thoroughly awful idea; I can't count the number of times I've seen people have to jump back when a driver illegally rolled over the sidewalk without stopping for the pedestrians. I completely understand why the Beltline is changing their plans to move to the east side of Bill Kennedy. Using the segment of path that Fuqua built as the Beltline would be awful.

It makes me worry about his future development on Memorial. No drive-thru planned, thankfully, but the primary vehicular entrance is still going to cross the Beltline, as it's currently proposed.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Someone's going to get hurt there eventually. Having a drive-thru restaurant exit cross over the primary pedestrian entrance to the shopping center was a thoroughly awful idea; I can't count the number of times I've seen people have to jump back when a driver illegally rolled over the sidewalk without stopping for the pedestrians. I completely understand why the Beltline is changing their plans to move to the east side of Bill Kennedy. Using the segment of path that Fuqua built as the Beltline would be awful.

It makes me worry about his future development on Memorial. No drive-thru planned, thankfully, but the primary vehicular entrance is still going to cross the Beltline, as it's currently proposed.

Agreed. The plans for the Beltline along BKW are looking pretty promising considering the challenges they faced with this section. Hope to see how it actually performs soon.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Agreed. The plans for the Beltline along BKW are looking pretty promising considering the challenges they faced with this section. Hope to see how it actually performs soon.

Yeah, the latest proposals for Bill Kennedy Way have me excited about it, it looks like it has the potential to be one of the best stretches of the entire loop.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Someone's going to get hurt there eventually. Having a drive-thru restaurant exit cross over the primary pedestrian entrance to the shopping center was a thoroughly awful idea; I can't count the number of times I've seen people have to jump back when a driver illegally rolled over the sidewalk without stopping for the pedestrians. I completely understand why the Beltline is changing their plans to move to the east side of Bill Kennedy. Using the segment of path that Fuqua built as the Beltline would be awful.

It makes me worry about his future development on Memorial. No drive-thru planned, thankfully, but the primary vehicular entrance is still going to cross the Beltline, as it's currently proposed.

The executive director of Imagine Memorial is pressing a lot harder to prevent this sort of thing and working with Fuqua and GDOT to minimize the potential of this happening.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Me too. I am hopeful market forces will drive this area to be redeveloped relatively quickly. Especailly when the Beltline is connect down here. Those big boxes are usually only built to last a decade or two anyways. Some pieces such as the planned office mid-rise on the site of the Chick-fil-a will happen even sooner.

I think you're probably looking at 20-30+ years rather than 10-20.

That's one of the reasons it's so important to get these redevelopments right from the beginning. It's usually a generational opportunity at best. And they may only come along after two or three generations.

Too bad that the city didn't hold the line on projects like this one and Lindbergh. Lindbergh is somewhat more urban than Glenwood but it could have been much better.

While everybody loves a grocery store, let's get the format right.

[jsvh]

We will see. I bet that Chick-fil-a will be redeveloped in well less than 20 years. Maybe even less than 10.

They did get some important fixes right with this site. Mainly getting the street grid and adding residential density. But I agree with the thoughts about better planning needing to happen. And have been very impressed with what the City Design Project has been doing.

[cqholt]

Great article written by ex-mayoral candidate Cathy Woolard. This article really shows her full grasp of urbanity.

Connecting the north side of the BeltLine with the south side, and the entire corridor to MARTA transit, is fundamental to moving the needle on equity in Atlanta. We will give everyone access to all of the amenities across the city via an efficient, safe and AVAILABLE transit corridor or we won’t. Hopefully our new Mayor and City Council will recognize the need to come together and implement this vision by defending this and other critical corridors against incompatible encroachment. It’s as simple as that.

Don't let the BeltLine vision grow dim on Bill Kennedy Way - ThreadATL

[jsvh]

Yep. Bill Kennedy Way is a key site where we need to fight hard to prioritize it for pedestrians, bikes and transit over cars. Forces like Fuqua are wanting to funnel cars in off the highway into massive surface lots and we cannot let that harm this critical connection in the Beltline infrastructure.

I have biked and walked across I-20 on BKW many times myself and it does not feel welcoming or safe. Heck, even the houses at that off-ramp are not safe from cars. This really needs to be addressed. And if Fuqua cannot efficiently get enough cars into his strip malls as a result, too bad. But more drastic changes like closing these highway off ramps need to be seriously considered.