The uninspiring Edgewood-Candler Park station is MARTA's next target for a mixed-use revival. Back in 2012, a total of 10 MARTA stations were ID'd as potential targets for redevelopment. The Edgewood-Candler Park stop was one of them, and Invest Atlanta has now issued an RFP for the roughly five-acre site on Dekalb Avenue; in layman's term's, they're asking for proposals aimed at increasing ridership, revenue and curb appeal. Those proposals could theoretically redesign the site any way they want (within reason), but a 2011 study has officials thinking two general concepts would be the most beneficial. And the proposal seekers are pretty specific about what they want.
- Concept A, as the request calls it, would follow the "pocket parks" model. Two four- or five-story mixed used buildings would be built around separate parking garages, and the bus bays would be redeveloped. The design would theoretically include "a splash fountain park at the corner of Whitefoord Avenue and LaFrance Street (and) a 'community living room' park between the extensions of Hutchinson and Lowry," along with other streetside greenspace. A transit plaza would hold "civic space and retail."
- Designs falling under Concept B, the so-called "central commons concept," would include an additional four- or five-story mixed use building, one large parking garage and another smaller one "covered" by a residential courtyard. "The centerpiece of the development is a central community commons and an iconic MARTA tower built onto the existing MARTA Tower and escalator," the RFP says. "This tower (will) provide a key focal point for the development fostering a greater sense of 'place.'"
Proposals are due by April 28, and the winner is scheduled to be selected by the end of May. There was no timeline offered in terms of the project's completion, and we're not privy to any renderings other than rather generic ones from 2012.
MARTA reached a deal with Walton Communities last month to put nearly 400 apartments and 13,000 square feet of retail near the King Memorial station. Those will be the first plans actually adopted in what MARTA hopes will be a series of projects. Both overarching concepts for Edgewood-Candler Park would clearly be an upgrade, but which would east-siders rather see: a more open, outdoor-friendly MARTA station, or one with a little more mixed-use and a big ol' honkin' tower?
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep
· Edgewood-Candler Park intelligence [MARTA]
· Candler Park coverage through the years [Curbed Atlanta]
[ABOVE: Edgewood-Candler Park MARTA Station 2012 rendering, via Saporta Report/Urban Residential Finance Authority]
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