Georgia State University Plans $1 Billion Downtown Expansion

[Andrea]

Wow, this is a biggie!! The Business Chronicle reports that Georgia State is embarking on a $1 billion construction program over a 12 block area in downtown Atlanta. Features include:

-- New on-campus student and Greek housing

-- a four building, $120 million home for the business and law schools, adjacent to Georgia Pacific headquarters, which will incorporate the Peachtree Center MARTA station

-- a $200 million research park at Piedmont and Decatur Street

-- an athletic center expansion

-- replacement of some existing buildings, including a new humanities center.

-- streetscape improvements

By 2105 the University expects to have 50,000 students, of whom 36,000 will attend full time.

[catlike]

Wowza!

[Newnan]

This will do wonders for downtown. The key to renovating downtown is to focus on a few "pockets" at a time. They'll eventually all grow together and all of downtown will be thriving

[Lady Celeste]

I agree Newnan......

This is a definite boost for the downtown submarket. The eastern CBD and the western CBD are really taking off residentially and general development wise. They are so close togethe that there will be such a synergy. Thank you Georgia State for believing in downtown. Their president has been a staunch supporter of downtown. I wonder will any of this development face Peachtree St? I am just so thrilled with this announcement. Thanks Andrea for bringing it to our attention.

[teshadoh]

That is big -

- I wonder what the additional student housing structure is & or is it actually the dorm being built now

- the law building complex is interesting. Which also means Georgia Pacific won't be building a second office tower, possibly due to their new boss. But this 4 building complex might be a better fit anyways.

- the science complex has already been announced & surprisingly found state funding

- as for the latter points, interesting - I do certainly wonder what will occur.

Andrea - is it supposed to be '2015' that GSU hits 50k students?

[Martinman]

That is big -

- I wonder what the additional student housing structure is & or is it actually the dorm being built now

- the law building complex is interesting. Which also means Georgia Pacific won't be building a second office tower, possibly due to their new boss. But this 4 building complex might be a better fit anyways.

- the science complex has already been announced & surprisingly found state funding

- as for the latter points, interesting - I do certainly wonder what will occur.

Andrea - is it supposed to be '2015' that GSU hits 50k students?

The map in the paper shows other student housing in addition to the one under construction. I'm anxious for the streetscape work so that it starts to feel more like a college campus.

[Andrea]

^^Brad, they're showing four student housing buildings in the block bounded by Peachtree, Decatur, Central and Lower Alabama Streets. (I'm assuming part of this is the hotel they're converting). They are also showing fraternity/sorority housing at Eddgewood & Piedmont. These are in addition to the dorms currently under construction on Piedmont.

And yeah, 2015 is the year they mention. I was suprised to read that, too.

[ironchapman]

Great news for Georgia State indeed. GA State is becoming our SCAD

Let's hope the expansion is successful. $1 billion is a lot to spend.

[atlanta]

Yay! I'm so proud of my alma mater. All the things that are going on at GSU are amazing.