Not Hot: Expert Outlines Atlanta's Grim Realities, But Also Significant Opportunities

For diligent readers and those with interest in real estate development and land-use, the name Christopher Leinberger will be familiar. He's the University of Michigan professor and Brookings Institution senior fellow that's widely considered one of the pre-eminent experts in his field in the U.S., if not the world. Leinberger wrote a piece for the AJC's op-ed that lays out the challenges Atlanta faces, many of which you've seen in these pages. In no particular order, Leinberger cites Atlanta's persistent unemployment, traffic congestion, a 29% loss in average per-square-foot housing prices between 2000-2010, and the fact that the city is increasingly offering a lifestyle opposite of that desired by the most desirable workers and companies. The opportunities he sees are also legion, though, and many of them simply involve re-embracing our transit roots: i.e. investments in commuter rail, continuing to capitalize on the power of our airport, making The BeltLine everything it can be and getting T-SPLOST passed. Hopefully Atlanta's population and its leaders are waking up to what the outside world already seems to know.

· ‘Hotlanta’ isn’t what it once was [AJC]