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Old Posted Jul 17, 2007, 5:32 PM
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ozone ozone is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Sacramento California
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Thanks for letting us know about Atlanta's major brownfield redevelopment project. It's interesting to compare the Railyards with that project. First off the Sacramento project is larger -138 acres compared to 240-acres. I couldn't get a soild number on the total housing units at built-out for the Atlanta project or the densities. But I did notice that while there are higher density areas it looks like there are also many low-rise condominiums and townhomes and a large man-made pond. Not very urban.

And I may be wrong but it looks like virtually nothing of the old mill was saved in the Atlanta project. One the outstanding features of the Railyards will be the preservation and reuse of the historic shops.

Although touted as such, Atlantic Station is not all that transit-oriented. There's no MARTA station so vistors have to board a shuttle bus to get to closest station (and few people take shuttle buses). Also much of it is actually built above huge parking garages. So with no direct rail and easy parking the vast majority of people use their cars. And one of the main tenant is IKEA which is a big traffic generator. Even if it had direct public transport nobody's going to take their new poang home on the train.

In contrast, the Railyards will be home the regional transit hub and is much closer (within walking distance) to the heart of the city and major tourist destinations.

While I like the Atlanta project I think the Sacramento Railyards will be much more urban, complex and interesting. We'll have to wait and see.
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