Morning, y’all. Have you heard about the AJC Headline House?
Essentially, we’re taking over part of Krog Street Market for a few days to show off some art, eat free food and host cool conversations with influential people.
More details in the link, but it runs through Sunday — and you’re invited. Swing on by, should you find yourself in the area.
Let’s get to it.
BIG GULCH, HUH? ALL RIGHT!
Credit: Hyosub Shin / AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin / AJC
There are lots of crazy things about Centennial Yards.
The scope.
The general concept of “hey, let’s build stuff in that big hole.”
The fact that I can tweak a fairly obscure “Dumb and Dumber” quote and use it as a headline that sort of makes sense.
But the craziest thing about the downtown megaproject filling up the Gulch?
That may be the fact that it’s really, actually, truly happening.
- Just ask the guy who dreamt it up: “These are not fake cranes. Those are not fake buildings. This is happening.”
- Or the guy helping lead construction: “If you rewound a year and look at what it is now, it’s insane to see what has been created in a very short period of time. It just didn’t exist.”
The AJC’s Zach Hansen recently got a tour of the 50-acre construction hive, where a 19-story apartment tower welcomed its first residents a few months ago. The towering Hotel Phoenix opened Dec. 1.
A four-building entertainment district is rising, as we speak, on the concrete-and-steel platform that now tops parking lots and rail lines and long-forgotten sewer pipes. That’s slated to include:
- A 5,300-seat concert venue.
- A sort of mini Las Vegas Sphere called Cosm.
- Another high-rise.
- A central plaza.
- And a building that’ll positively reek of retail.
The ETA for some of it is “before next summer’s World Cup,” while other aspects may not arrive until the 2030s.
All of it should be very cool (Zach reports that organizers remain bullish on future phases, including a possible 26-story office tower, too).
But let’s be real for a second here: As the folks in charge see it, we’re not just talking about a $5 billion(!) project. We’re talking about the possibility of finally delivering something unprecedented.
Something long foretold but never delivered.
A downtown Atlanta revival.
“If you let the heart die, it’s not long before the whole region dies,” longtime Atlanta developer Egbert Perry said. “You may think your arms and legs are strong … but you can’t survive without a healthy heart.”
Read the full story for more on how that heart got so broken — and how it’s being mended.
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
😬 Driverless Waymo cars keep passing stopped Atlanta school buses. That’s dangerous for kids, an impetus for a federal investigation and reason for a recall.
⚖️ Georgia death row inmate Stacey Ian Humphreys lost his bid to halt his upcoming execution. The state is scheduled to end his life on Wednesday.
👑 Coca-Cola has a new Lord of Soda and Soda-Related Products. Well, CEO. But you get the gist. Henrique Braun, who’s been with Coke since 1996, was born in California, raised in Brazil and has an MBA from Georgia State.
✈️ Delta Air Lines and Hartsfield-Jackson both turned 100 this year, and Emma Hurt has a cool look at a century’s worth of coverage from the AJC and its predecessors.
🚫 Regulate data centers? Some DeKalb County residents say that’s not enough — they want local leaders to ban them altogether.
UNCOVERING HISTORY AT ‘GOD’S ACRE’
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Spring Place is a small North Georgia town tucked away about 10 miles east of Dalton. In the early 1800s, it was home to a Native American boarding school operated by Christian missionaries.
The school recently popped up on a list of more than 400 such facilities once operated or supported by the federal government. They’re places often infamous for racism, corporal punishment and student deaths.
But as the AJC’s Jeremy Redmon found out, Spring Place might’ve been a little different.
“There is no reason to have an apology for the Spring Place Mission,” a former Cherokee Nation leader told him, “because we wanted it and it aided us.”
It also produced a man who started a second school on the list — the same man who signed a treaty leading to the Trail of Tears.
🔎 Read more from the fascinating AJC investigation:
WINTER BUMMERLAND
Credit: Midtown Alliance
Credit: Midtown Alliance
Maybe that’s overselling things just a bit, but Midtown Atlanta’s lovely holiday light display is a little less lustrous this year — and reporter David Aaro found out why.
Unfortunately, it comes down to cold, hard cash.
- The Midtown Improvement District recently bought an undeveloped lot on 14th Street.
- It’s slated to become a park, which is awesome.
- But the $46 million purchase also put leaders in a bit of a fiscal pinch.
“I wish we had unlimited funding to do everything that we wanted to do, but no organization does, and so that requires some hard decisions,” said Midtown Alliance President and CEO Kevin Green.
Those hard decisions mean this year’s neighborhood-spanning light show is limited to 43 decorated trees and eight stars across six different sites — compared to 13 sites in 2024.
Bah humbug.
🎄 Specific locations for this year’s lights (plus some eye-popping electricity bill numbers) in the story.
NEWS BITES
Georgia high school coach arrested, accused of hitting, choking players
In on-the-field sports news: The Falcons pulled out a 29-28 victory over the Bucs, the Braves signed a big-time reliever and Gainesville High made it to the state football finals.
Sober December: How some people are skipping booze for the holidays
Probably a good idea, if you can stand being around Aunt Harriet without a few gulps of the hard stuff.
Check out these 3 red wine blends for the holiday season
I mean … we can’t all be quitters.
Disney invests $1B in OpenAI deal. Mickey’s coming along.
Creepy AI videos of beloved fictional characters ... what could go wrong?
ON THIS DATE
Dec. 12, 1984
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
City’s sign of growth tops 2 million. Red, white and blue balloons flew into the air, a band played a joyful tune and a large, festive crowd cheered Wednesday when Mayor Andrew Young cut a cord and a canvas fell to reveal it all: Atlanta’s population is now 2,000,000. The ceremony before the well-known population sign at the Darlington Apartments on Peachtree Road was attended by local county, city and Atlanta Regional Commission officials. … (ARC) Chairman Ernest Barrett said during the celebration that the population sign was a symbol to “let the world know that we’ve made it, and let them know how we’ve done it — together.”
That famous sign first popped up in 1965, with a young billboard mogul named Ted Turner to thank (wonder whatever happened to him?). The city recently lent out $10 million to help finance more “mixed-income housing” at the surrounding high-rise, now known as the Lofts at Twenty25.
ONE MORE THING
AJ returns on Monday. In the meantime, enjoy this gallery from the “Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.”
Comedy wildlife photography! I missed my calling.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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