Cousins leads team picked for Gulch

By Rachel Tobin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A team led by Cousins Properties has been selected to build a transit hub in downtown Atlanta.

Enlarge photo

Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com A railroad track runs under Spring Street in the Gulch, on the level of Atlanta’s early streets in the 1800s.

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The Georgia Department of Transportation announced the selection Monday, pending approval by the DOT board in May. Along with Atlanta-based Cousins the team includes The Integral Group, Forest City Enterprises, FC Asset Services, Cooper Carry, Urban Collage, FXFOWLE, Kimley-Horn & Associates and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

"This was a huge competition with great firms competing," said Larry Gellerstedt, president and CEO of Cousins. "Now we’ve got the opportunity to take it to the next step."

The DOT board will need to approve the team in May, but DOT staff can begin negotiations with the Cousins team.

Vicki Gavalas, a DOT spokeswoman, said the process is still an “open procurement,” so if negotiations break down with the Cousins team, DOT can negotiate with the next most qualified team, though she declined to say which teams were ranked second and third.

The DOT plans a public hearing on March 30 and is taking comment on summaries submitted by the three teams competing for the project. The public can comment at the hearing and at www.GeorgiaP3.com.

The other bid teams were led by Atlanta-based Jacoby Development with Chicago's John Buck Co.; and Atlanta-based H.J. Russell and The Dawson Co., with Houston-based Hines.

The proposals were evaluated by DOT technical staff and a group of advisors picked by MARTA, the City of Atlanta, The Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, and Central Atlanta Progress/Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.

Cousins Properties is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust that developed the original Omni and what is now CNN Center. The long-proposed transit hub would be near CNN Center in an area of parking lots and overpasses. The plan is designed to tie together transportation and also spawn commercial development.

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