It’s funny how things turn out. How a change in routine can ignite a spark that changes a city.
The 1996 Summer Olympics put Atlanta on a global stage, but it also set in motion a series of events that led Georgia Tech to leap over the Downtown Connector and re-integrate itself with Midtown. And it started in part because Tech’s president at the time, Wayne Clough, had to change his commute patterns.
Olympic security interrupted Clough’s routine. Removed from his normal path the administrator and educator saw an opportunity to buy up some underdeveloped parking lots and lonely buildings.
The development research university built — Technology Square — is now, nearly 20 years after Atlanta’s shining Olympic moment, the magnet attracting research centers and corporate headquarters.
And Technology Square is on the cusp of expanding again.
Read more about Georgia Tech's expansion plans and its influence on new companies and Midtown in Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution or online at myAJC.com.
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