On their own, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola and Philips Arena bring millions of people to downtown Atlanta every year.

David Marvin, a builder responsible for the new Hilton Garden Inn near Centennial Olympic Park and the swanky Glenn Hotel near CNN, thinks the attractions could be even bigger if marketed as part of a new downtown district.

Marvin is trying to create what he calls the Luckie Marietta District — a destination of hotels, attractions and restaurants stretching from the aquarium to the Georgia World Congress Center that he wants to market as one monster point of interest. If his vision pans out, the area will join other Atlanta communities with their own identity, such as Buckhead, Virginia-Highland, Midtown, Little Five Points and the Fairlie-Poplar District downtown.

Marvin's strategy: sell the area not as the home of separate businesses, but rather as a one-stop shop for a visitor's every need and amusement.

"We want to recognize that downtown Atlanta has a district where you can come and within walking distance get to a number of attractions, to meeting facilities, to a ballgame and to eat," said Marvin. He envisions the area having the same name recognition one day of a Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego or the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

"If I were in New York, San Francisco or Chicago, I would never think of renting a car," Marvin said. "That's not been the case in Atlanta."

Tourism and conventions is one of Atlanta's biggest industries, worth about $11.4 billion, hospitality officials say. Millions come to the city ever year for big annual meetings and attractions from Stone Mountain to Zoo Atlanta.

Lauren Jarrell, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, said efforts like those under way in the Luckie Marietta District are helpful. She points out Castleberry Hill's efforts to market itself as a must-see neighborhood on any Atlanta visit as an example.

"Neighborhoods are one of the ways we define Atlanta as a great place to visit," she said.

The Luckie Marietta area is bounded by Centennial Olympic Park Drive and Baker, Luckie, Marietta and Latimer streets. The Georgia Dome, Philips and Georgia World Congress Center are included because of their proximity.

In June, Marvin sent out a letter to businesses in the outlined geographical area pitching the idea, saying the mixed-use district would "attract future leasers and consumers to the unique benefits and offerings the district will present."

The plan is for members of the district to put money into marketing efforts that will include media announcements, inclusion in the Luckie Marietta Web site, e-mail marketing, brochures and maps, Marvin said. The fee structure will include an initiation fee and monthly memberships.

There is a lot to sell. What years ago was a derelict no-man's-land of warehouses and cracked parking lots, is now home to Stats Foodplay, Imagine It! the children's museum of Atlanta and Centennial Olympic Park.

Popular restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods is set to open soon on the second floor of the Hilton and the Center for Civil and Human Rights and a health museum are possible future residents of the area.

The Omni Hotel at CNN Center quickly jumped on board. Kimberly Murdock, marketing manager for the property, said one of the biggest challenges for Omni is getting people to come downtown. Selling the area as a package allows the businesses to demonstrate how it stacks up against the competition — especially among meeting planners that may have been on the fence.

"The partnership as a whole gives us a collective voice as a district," she said.

Marvin has a big financial stake in the district. He owns a huge swath of the area, which he began piecing together in the early 1990s when other builders wouldn't touch it.

In addition to the hotels, he also owns the building that houses Stats and will soon also include Rise, an Asian bistro, and the Wine Loft. He persuaded popular restaurant Peasant Bistro to open at the Centennial Park West condominiums he built on the park and is bringing the National Museum of Patriotism to the area.

"We have significant real estate holdings in this area," Marvin said of his company, Legacy Property Group.

He said the effort would make sense even if he didn't have such a stake.

"It's just creating a brand for what already exists or is in progress already," he said.