Goodbye, Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center MARTA station.
Hello, SEC — Sports Entertainment and Convention District — station.
More than seven years after the Georgia Dome imploded, and long after Philips Arena and the CNN Center changed names, MARTA is renaming the downtown station.
The outdated station name is a navigational headache for visitors and has been a concern for those planning next year’s World Cup matches, all of which will be played next door to the station at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
On Thursday, MARTA’s Board of Directors voted to change the name in time for the FIFA games and the 300,000 visitors expected to descend on Atlanta.
The World Cup deadline added urgency to the name change, MARTA board member Thomas Worthy said.
“This is kind of an emergency, ‘take action before we run out of time’ situation,” Worthy said. “It’s been on people’s minds for quite some time, but we’re kind of getting close to the event horizon.”
The station renaming is happening quickly and outside of the board’s usual process. Typically, public meetings are held and community input is sought.
In this case, the Metro Atlanta Chamber worked with MARTA and a bevy of other organizations — the Atlanta Sports Council, Arthur Blank’s sports and entertainment organization, the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, the Atlanta Hawks, State Farm Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority — to secure support for the name change.
They have all signed on to a generic station name that references the types of businesses in the area, Worthy said.
Chamber officials said it was a “practical move.”
“Investing in improved wayfinding and infrastructure makes it a better experience for visitors and residents alike,” Dave Williams, the chamber’s senior vice president, said in a statement.
FIFA requested the name change be completed six months in advance of the games. That will require new signs and station maps throughout the entire system.
The cost of new signs and maps was not available Thursday. Worthy said he suspects MARTA will be able to raise private funding to help cover the costs.
MARTA’s renaming policy states that organizations requesting station name changes must agree to pay all costs associated with implementing the change. Worthy and other board members said this renaming is an exception, and any others would involve public feedback.
New names have been considered for a handful of other stations, including Ashby, Civic Center, Bankhead and Lakewood/Fort McPherson, in recent years.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. A previous version misspelled Philips Arena.
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