The Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA Station is destined for a redo. Like MARTA train stops in Avondale Estates, Edgewood/Candler Park and the King Memorial Station, the transit agency has mixed-use ambitions for the 10-acres of parking lots around the Brookhaven station at Peachtree Road and Dresden Drive. By issuing a request for qualifications to developers this week, MARTA took a significant step toward transforming those parking lots, which officials say are woefully underused. Last year, studies showed the station was in "advanced" stages of readiness for a TOD, or transit-oriented development, given what's already there. Like other MARTA hubs east of downtown, the Brookhaven station is situated within walking distance of local attractions, such as Town Brookhaven, Oglethorpe University and densifying Dresden Drive. And the community has voiced opinions on what they hope the project — a "high-quality, mixed-use, (TOD) consisting of residential, commercial and civic components," per MARTA — will look like.
Last October, MARTA, the Atlanta Regional Commission and sustainability advocates Southface hosted a charrette, and then tallied votes cast for pictures of existing projects around Atlanta (some results posted above). Nearly 200 city officials, area professionals and Brookhaven residents participated. (One observation: Suwanee's Town Center struck a cord). In general, Brookhaven (like every other hamlet in Atlanta) seems to be hankering for a human-scale complex with abundant greenspace and concealed parking decks. In other words, something more attractive and useful than 1,416 parking spaces, which MARTA studies show are used only 40 percent of the time, at most, on weekdays.
· The Changing Face Of Brookhaven's Dresden Drive [Curbed Atlanta]
· Brookhaven-Oglethorpe MARTA Station announced for redevelopment [Brookhaven Post]
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