Fix it up or tear it down?
The Atlanta Civic Center, in need of physical improvements after decades of underinvestment, will draw full scrutiny while the aging facility’s best use is determined, city officials and business leaders said.
The complex in northeast downtown has had trouble competing with newer facilities, according to a proposals request issued this past week on behalf of the city by Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.
“It’s a good time to step back and take a thorough look at what makes sense,” said George Dusenbury, commissioner of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, which owns the center. “Nothing is off the table.”
The 43-year-old Civic Center faces a wide range of options: renovation on the inside or outside, a new lease structure or new marketing techniques, redevelopment for new uses or a sale, according to the document. The notice asked for “realistic and creative” recommendations.
Responses are sought by Oct. 26. A go-ahead for a full study is expected by December, with a report due between three and four months after that.
The site at 395 Piedmont Ave. is close to where Midtown meets downtown and is still a prime spot, said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress. A real estate slump might be the best time to re-evaluate the complex.
“Is it practical to keep something this big?” Robinson said. “I think that’s a fair question in this world. This is really just a chance to take a fresh look when there’s not much development going on, to see what the options are going forward.”
The complex has hosted major shows, including the traveling Broadway musical “Fela!” and exhibits about King Tut and Princess Diana. However, it competes for events with newer or glitzier performing arts centers in Cobb, Alpharetta and Gwinnett, as well as the stadiums downtown and the historic Fox Theater.
For years, SciTrek, the Science and Technology Museum of Georgia, was housed in a building next to the civic center, but it closed in 2004 for lack of funds. At that time Atlanta, downtown boosters and developers considered a huge mixed-use project for the civic center’s parking lot and SciTrek land, but it didn’t happen.
The civic center, which is not subsidized by taxpayers, is supported by an enterprise fund meant to make it self-sustaining. In the most recent fiscal year, the complex had revenue of about $1.7 million, and its operations broke even, director Ann Marie Moraitakis said. That tally does not include the costs of necessary physical improvements.
The facility has a performance hall with 4,600 seats, a 100,000 square-foot exhibit hall — roughly the size of a Home Depot store — and a parking lot with 1,000 spaces.
In recent years, the civic center has hosted filming for movies such as “Joyful Noise” and “The Three Stooges,” and the TV pilot episode of “The Walking Dead,” a zombie show set in Atlanta. It also hosts community events, high school and college graduations, and recitals and corporate meetings. It has been tapped as the location for the “BET Hip Hop Awards” show.
“We looked for different revenue streams for the facility,” Moraitakis said. “Anything we can do to lease the facility and make money, we try to do it.”
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