ATLANTA – After years of discussion and anticipation, the future of the Atlanta Civic Center is finally set in motion. The Atlanta City Council has voted to enter a 10-year agreement with the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office, the Atlanta Housing Authority, and the Atlanta Civic Center. This agreement ensures that the site will continue to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act as it undergoes redevelopment. 

The ambitious redevelopment plan includes an array of new structures and facilities designed to revitalize the area. Among these are an affordable senior residential building, five multifamily residential high-rises, a 10-story hotel, a 12-story office building, commercial developments, and a charter school. Central to the plan is the reuse of the existing Civic Center Performing Arts Center, which will be transformed into a state-of-the-art theater for arts and cultural events. 

The first phase of the redevelopment focuses on constructing a building with 148 senior housing units on the northeast section of the Civic Center property, adjacent to Renaissance Park. This building will feature one-bedroom units, each approximately 600 square feet. It will also include a roof deck, a street-level café, a plaza, around 5,700 square feet of amenities, and 75 underground parking spaces. 

According to the Atlanta Housing Authority, excavation work for the first phase is expected to begin this summer, with construction slated to start in November. This phase will also see the renovation of the 1960s Performing Arts Center, which will be converted into a cutting-edge venue for various arts and cultural uses. Additionally, a new performing arts school is planned in collaboration with Atlanta Public Schools. 

This initial phase marks the beginning of a comprehensive redevelopment of the nearly 19-acre property. The master plan envisions a vibrant community hub featuring a mix of housing, retail spaces, parks, and a hotel. Atlanta Housing officials aim to complete parts of the project in time to showcase them to visitors during the World Cup in summer 2026. 

After it appeared voters wouldn’t get the chance to see the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates square off this year, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump last week agreed to two debates.

The first debate will take place June 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s welcome news for the city of Atlanta, which was one of three finalists bidding to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. It ultimately lost out to Chicago, but it wasn’t for lack of political drama within the state.

Atlanta became an epicenter of conspiracy theories and “election fraud” alleged by the Trump campaign during the 2020 election. Fulton County is now the site of the former president’s election inference case. And the battleground state carries major electoral weight, having flipped blue for the first time in nearly 30 years during the last presidential election.

The location of the debate has history for Trump and will likely give him and Biden plenty to spar over.

More: Biden and Trump to debate in Atlanta, announces CNN

Trump’s history with Fulton County, Georgia

It’s fitting that the debate will be held at CNN’s studios, nestled in the center of Fulton County. The studios are less than a mile from the State Farm Arena, which served as a ballot processing site during the 2020 election.

State Farm Arena quickly became the subject of conspiracy theories about illicit votes spread by Trump and his associates on social media in the hours following the election. Trump claimed that surveillance video showed election workers staying after hours and removing “suitcases full of ballots” from under a table.

The truth was much simpler. A plumbing issue at the arena had delayed Election Day operations, forcing some election workers to stay late to continue processing ballots. After a lengthy investigation by multiple agencies, it was determined that no fraud took place.

The Fulton County courthouse

Former President Trump is now intimately familiar with the Fulton County Courthouse, just half a mile from the site of the upcoming debate.After an investigation by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, Trump became the first former president to be indicted on felony charges in Georgia. He and 18 allies were charged with trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia after pressuring state officials to overturn the results.

Prosecutors in Georgia proposed August 5 as a start date for the trial.

Georgia’s potential as a swing state

The Georgia State Capitol, located a mile from the debate stage, played a significant role in the 2020 election.

It was where Biden was certified as the first Democrat to win Georgia in almost three decades, defeating Trump by nearly 12,000 votes.Georgia will remain a crucial swing state for the candidates in the 2024 election. Both Trump and Biden have made multiple stops to the Peach State during their reelection campaigns, showing just how important these votes are to the candidates.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The MARTA Airport Station at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is back open after weeks of renovations.

It’s the first major renovation at MARTA’s Airport Station. Atlanta News First got an exclusive look at the progress last week as crews put the finishing touches on the project ahead of Monday’s opening.

Upgrades include everything from new paint, new floors, and new railing to changes to the tactile strips, which help passengers watch their step as they get on and off the train.

Since April 8, a shuttle service has connected travelers from College Park Station to and from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as crews worked on the renovations.

MARTA says the six-week closure of the Airport Station saved 17 months of construction time.

“It would’ve been a much longer process where we would only do a small portion of work every night and then shore up that work every night to then be open back up in the morning so that 17 months was saved by doing just six weeks of work,” said MARTA Senior Project Manager Jermaine White.

MARTA’s Airport Station reopened early Monday morning. Airport officials say there is another phase of renovations underway, and work will continue.

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