Downtown Atlanta showcases a dynamic blend of growth and resilience across various real estate market sectors and quality-of-life elements. As more employees return to the office and big events like the 2026 World Cup hover in the future, it’s more important than ever to be informed about the current state of our city center. The Q1-2024 Downtown Market Report provides exclusive insights into the current trends in office, hotel, retail, and multi-family housing markets, combined with data-driven updates on visitation and crime.

Keep reading to discover four key takeaways that summarize the quarter’s market performance.

1. Office Market Rent Growth and New Leasing Activity Amid High Vacancy Rates
   Downtown Atlanta’s office market showed resilience with rents surpassing pre-pandemic levels by more than 10% compared to Q1-2019. The vacancy rate remains high, reflecting ongoing adjustments in the market due to remote work policies. Despite office market challenges, there were 43,844 square feet of direct leases and a net absorption of 6,324 square feet, an improvement from the negative absorption reported in Q1-2023.
   
2. Higher Asking Rents and Upcoming Retail Openings
   Downtown Atlanta’s retail market asking rents reached $34.13 per square foot, an 81% increase from Q1-2019. Despite a vacancy rate of 8%, the market saw six direct leases. Upcoming retail establishments like Butter + Scotch, Mendoza Cafe y Vino, and SKOL Brewing Company are set to enhance Downtown’s retail landscape.
3. Impressive Visitation Trends in Downtown
   As detailed in the Q1-2024 Downtown Market Report, visitation continues to improve from low post-pandemic levels with over 18.6 million visits to Downtown Atlanta. Downtown welcomed 14 million non-employee visits and 4.6 million employee visits. In Q1-2024, employee visitation rose by 106% and 52% compared to Q1-2021 and Q1-2022.
4. Reduction in Incidents alongside Impactful Safety Improvements
   In Q1-2024, there were 486 crime incidents, which marks an 11% decrease from Q4-2023. Most incidents were non-violent crimes, particularly theft from vehicles, which comprised 67% of total incidents. However, installing cameras in high-theft areas led to a significant 68% reduction in theft from vehicle incidents.

Ready to get all the facts? Click here to view the Q1-2024 Downtown Market Report.

Dylan Waukazo is a loyal Minnesota Twins fan. But he will gladly take a vacation from his MLB allegiances when he travels to Atlanta.

The freshly graduated Bemidji High School senior is headed to Georgia from June 7-9 to compete in the Native American All-Star Baseball Showcase at Truist Park. The Braves are hosting 50 youth baseball players of Native American descent from around North America to participate and compete in pro-style workouts and a showcase game.

Waukazo was the lone Minnesota player selected.

“Baseball has been very big for me,” Waukazo said. “I’ve played baseball for 13 years. I’m just excited to get down there and learn. They work with guys like (Ronald Acuna Jr.) on a day-to-day basis. I want to learn from the same coaches.”

Former MLB players Marquis Grissom, Johnny Estrada, Marvin Freeman and Lou Collier will coach the teams in the showcase game. As part of the showcase, the Atlanta Braves will utilize TrackMan Baseball, a leading technology company in sports analytics, to capture, track and deliver player statistics to help players improve their game.

The pro-style workout on Saturday, June 8, will be executed by the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association and will focus on defensive work, fielding, throwing and catcher pop times. Select players will be picked during Saturday’s batting practice to participate in a home run derby that afternoon following the workout.

In the Braves’ efforts to provide access and opportunity for diverse baseball talent, the showcase will highlight Native American high school baseball players who aspire to play the game at the next level.

In addition to providing the unforgettable experience of playing in an MLB ballpark, the event will offer exposure for players who otherwise may not have an opportunity to play in front of college and MLB scouts.

“The one thing I really wanted to learn was more about pitching and more about fielding,” Waukazo said. “I want to get the (fundamentals) down like an MLB player would, and I get to learn from MLB coaches when I get there.”

Waukazo is bringing more than a bat and a glove to Atlanta. With him, he will bring a White Earth Nation tribal flag to give to the Braves’ organization. The flag will be hung with the other donated tribal flags in the team facility, a gesture that makes Waukazo feel “honored and proud.”

“There’s some nerves about going to Atlanta, for sure,” Waukazo said. “But I think they’ll go away once I get down there. I just want to learn as much as I can.”

Waukazo wants to develop more command with his pitching and learn how to throw harder. He will take the tools he garners from Atlanta to Cornell College in Iowa next fall. Cornell is a Division III school in Mount Vernon, led by head coach Robbie Dombrowski. Waukazo will also play for the Bemidji Bucks this summer.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to play college baseball,” he added. “It’s just an honor for me to be able to do that and accomplish that. I went to a showcase and had a good workout with (Cornell). They gave me my first-ever offer and (Dombrowski) said I could be a dude on his staff. He believes in me, and that’s what I was looking for.”

1 of 5 | On May 31, 2003, Eric Robert Rudolph, the long-sought fugitive in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing, was arrested. File Photo courtesy of the FBI

In 1859, construction concluded and bells rang out for the first time from London’s Big Ben clock tower.

In 1889, a flood in Johnstown, Pa., left more than 2,200 people dead.

In 1902, Britain and South Africa signed a peace treaty ending the Boer War.

In 1916, the Battle of Verdun passed the 100-day mark. It would continue for another 200 days, amassing a casualty list of an estimated 800,000 soldiers dead, injured or missing.

In 1921, the Tulsa race massacre was set off when a mob of White residents attacked the Black residents and businesses in the Greenwood District. The total number of those killed in the violence is unknown, with an Oklahoma commission established in 2001 estimating between 75 to 100 people dead. The number of displaced Black residents was far greater.

In 1940, a thick fog hanging over the English Channel prevented the German Luftwaffe from flying missions against evacuating Allied troops from Dunkirk.

Troops evacuated from Dunkirk on a destroyer about to berth at Dover, England, on May 31, 1940. File Photo courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

In 1985, seven federally insured banks in Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It was a single-day record for closings since the FDIC was founded in 1934.

In 1996, Israeli voters elected opposition Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.

In 2003, Eric Robert Rudolph, the long-sought fugitive in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and attacks on abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, was arrested while rummaging through a dumpster in North Carolina. Rudolph, whose bombings killed two people and injured many others, was sentenced to four life terms in prison.

In 2005, Mark Felt admitted that, while No. 2 man in the FBI, he was “Deep Throat,” the shadowy contact whose help to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the 1972 Watergate break-in led to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI

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In 2012, John Edwards of North Carolina, former U.S. senator and presidential candidate, was acquitted on a charge of taking illegal campaign contributions, and a judge declared a mistrial on five other charges against him.

In 2014, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, captured in Afghanistan nearly five years earlier, was released by the Taliban in exchange for five detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In March 2015, the Army announced that Bergdahl had been charged with desertion.

In 2019, a shooting a a Virginia Beach, Va., municipal center left 12 victims and the shooter — a disgruntled former employee — dead.

In 2021, China announced plans to allow couples to have a third child, scrapping its controversial two-child policy amid a slumping birth rate and aging population.

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

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