Decatur held two open house meetings this week discussing redevelopment of the East Lake MARTA Station.
Over 100 people total showed up to weigh in on preferred development styles and also the sprucing up of those corridors—particularly College Avenue and DeKalb Avenue — surrounding the station.
Last year a grant was awarded for a Livable Center Initiative Study of the station and environs, with the Atlanta Regional Commission paying 80 percent or $100,000 of the study. The remaining $25,000 gets split among project partners, City of Decatur, City of Atlanta and MARTA.
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The study should take eight months, meaning that a development plan could finish by next May. But Decatur Planning Director Angela Threadgill said it could be another three-to-five years before ground gets broken.
Originally opened in the late 1970s, East Lake is currently the second most under utilized MARTA station in metro Atlanta in ridership and parking. The property totals eight acres within a one-half mile radius, 80 percent of which is in Decatur.
According to statistics from 2016, daily entries average 1,101 at East Lake, compared to 5,388 at the Avondale MARTA, and 4,466 at the downtown Decatur station.
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