Atlanta wants Amtrak at Centennial Yards mini-city

Metropolis Corridor leaders need Amtrak to have a chief spot at Centennial Yards in Downtown, reviving a transit imaginative and prescient for a large improvement that’s poised to deliver hundreds of residents, vacationers and staff to the historic metropolis middle.

Why it issues: Atlanta was based as a railroad hub — and stays a significant focus for freight visitors. However at the moment, catching a prepare out of Amtrak’s quaint Brookwood station makes passenger rail inconvenient for a lot of vacationers.

• President Biden’s administration, himself an avid fan of Amtrak, is bullish on boosting and constructing out a passenger rail community — and Atlanta is a part of that imaginative and prescient.

Catch up fast: Centennial Yards — the 50-acre mini-city proposed for the expanse of asphalt and railroad tracks close to Mercedes-Benz Stadium that’s lovingly generally known as The Gulch — may add greater than 8 million sq. toes of flats, resort rooms and workplaces to South Downtown.

• Earlier plans for the realm included a multimodal terminal and workplace that will serve passenger rail and buses and would hyperlink to the 5 Factors and Georgia World Congress Heart stations.

The outdated improvement deal fell aside, and then-Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration stated the challenge wasn’t a precedence. Discussions have since centered on constructing a station close to Armour Yard north of Piedmont Heights.

Particulars: Councilperson Jason Dozier, who represents the realm, says the $5 billion Centennial Yards, Newport’s South Downtown eight-block overhaul, Underground Atlanta and the 5 Factors rebuild are transferring shortly. With the realm’s historical past, location, and density, it is sensible.

• Passenger rail may assist Atlantans scale back aircraft and vehicle journey, minimizing each their and town’s carbon footprints, Dozier says.

What they’re saying: If the Gulch isn’t a superb match, Dozier’s superb with a station at Armour Yards. He sees the expanded relationship with Amtrak as a chance to study potential pitfalls and hammer out a plan.

“The truth that Amtrak is not on the desk having these conversations with us to share their considerations, alternatives and needs, it seems like we’re debating these items in a little bit of a vacuum,” he says.