Fresh Renderings of NCR's 'Iconic' HQ Are Huge Improvement

If you're going to refer to a project an "iconic landmark for the City of Atlanta," you had better not come to the party with uninspired renderings that depict nothing more than a duller, stouter version of Buckhead's Terminus. Yet that is exactly what Cousins Properties did back in July when it revealed the first images of NCR's Midtown headquarters. The disappointment was palpable. Fortunately, new renderings released today to celebrate the project's groundbreaking are an improvement of, oh, roughly one million percent. Iconic? Let's not get carried away — it is, after all, only 22 stories tall. But it's certainly closer to living up to the hype than what we saw before, right?

Design firms HKS, Duda Paine and Gensler led design development of the glass tower at the corner of Eighth and Spring streets. NCR, a technology company focused on "consumer transactions" (meaning it makes ATMs, cash registers and the like), is currently based in Duluth. When this project is finished sometime around February 2018, the Fortune 500 company will move about 3,600 employees into the 533,000 square feet of office space.

According to Mayor Reed, the project represents an investment of around $300 million next to Georgia Tech. In a press release, NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti calls it "a critical first step in a larger goal to create a 'Silicon Valley of the East' right here in Atlanta."

In addition to having gyms and facilities for employees, NCR plans to activate the street level with an "urban living room" that invites pedestrian activity. There will also be a plaza complete with bocce court, oversized chess boards and "decorative" ping-pong tables (does that mean we can't play on them?).

· NCR Holds Official Groundbreaking Ceremony for New State-of-the-Art World Headquarters Campus in Atlanta [NCR Website]
· Midtown Tower Formerly Known as 'Iconic' Coming Soon [Curbed Atlanta]
· Documents Shed More Light on Midtown's Squatty 'Icon' [Curbed Atlanta]
· Midtown 'Icon' Unveiled; Standard for 'Icons' Lowered [Curbed Atlanta]
· NCR Tower will be 'Iconic Addition to the Midtown Skyline' [Curbed Atlanta]