A new development team is plotting its moves to revolutionize Colony Square, a project that was pretty revolutionary when it was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
April 17, 2012 – Atlanta: Colony Square office buildings are shown on Peachtree Street in midtown Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta, Ga., April 17, 2012. Jason Getz jgetz@ajc.com
Colony Square was sort of like Atlanta’s mini-Rockefeller Center. It had a mix of uses, including two identical office towers, condos, a hotel and an enclosed shopping mall – all before “mixed-use” was cool.
Indeed, it was in the vanguard of development for the South that sprung up in a neighborhood that was once pretty rough, but decades later is one of the city’s hottest places to be.
North American Properties and Lionstone Investments’ bet is they can turn Colony Square into a moneymaker.
The editors and writers at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wondered: What should go there?
The new owners have given some hints for what they think will work. Blow the top off the shopping mall at the base of the towers. Bring in new retailers and restaurants. Make the place a "living room" for Midtown.
But they’ve also say they want to listen to the community’s vision. One tenant in the Colony Square said he thought the surrounding neighborhoods and office towers could support an Apple store.
That would definitely bring the desired foot traffic to the site.
So, Atlanta, what do you think should go there?
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