The Aerotropolis area was honored with a 2018 Development of Excellence Award in the category of “Great Place” on Nov. 2 by the Atlanta Regional Commission, during the agency’s State of the Region Breakfast, according to a press release. The awards recognize the developments and places that are improving quality of life in the 10-county Atlanta region.
The area, anchored by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, has long been the Atlanta region’s largest job center. In recent years, the Aerotropolis area has become home to new economic development engines large and small—such as Porsche Cars North America’s headquarters, Screen Gem Atlanta Studios, mixed-use projects like Gateway Center, and up-and-coming apartment communities like The Pad on Harvard.
Meanwhile, cities in the area, including College Park, East Point, and Hapeville, have revitalized their downtowns, creating lively places to eat, shop, and stroll.
Several efforts are helping drive change in the Aerotropolis area.
The Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance, founded in 2014, is a public-private partnership that includes Atlanta’s airport and surrounding jurisdictions, corporations, and private businesses, as well as local chambers of commerce, educational partners. The Alliance, in partnership with the Aerotropolis Atlanta CIDs, has catalyzed a new era of cooperation that has brought positive change and revitalization to the area — with the promise of much more to come.
Additionally, the effort has brought attention to many hidden gems in the area. The Finding the Flint campaign seeks to reconnect communities across the Aerotropolis area through greenspace and trails along the long-overlooked Flint River, an ambitious project that’s been compared to the Atlanta BeltLine in its vision and transformative possibilities.
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