In Summerhill, former Turner Field parking lots could soon be history

Each day, Summerhill looks more like one large construction site.

Until recently, Georgia Avenue, a former retail strip extending east from Georgia State Stadium—formerly Turner Field—was a ghost town

Today, however, tenants are moving into rehabbed buildings, fresh public art is everywhere, and student housing is on the rise.

Just northwest of that action, at the former site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Georgia State University and its development partner Carter are planning to transform a parking lot into two new urban blocks, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The full scope of the development has not yet been unveiled, although it’s likely the university will eventually put its new baseball stadium there.

The development site, wrapped by Fulton Street to the north, Hank Aaron Drive to the east, Georgia Avenue to the south, and Pollard Boulevard to the west, marks where Atlanta baseball icon Hank Aaron crushed his 715th home run. (Earlier plans have called for incorporating the razed stadium’s footprint—an homage to Aaron’s achievement—into the future baseball stadium).

Georgia State and Carter reportedly intend to hire contractors to remove the parking lots and create new blocks at the beginning of next year. Expect new roads, landscaping, and sidewalks.

Construction is slated to kick off in March and conclude by summertime.

Georgia State is also planning to develop a $61 million convocation center just north of the recently announced two-block project. That could finish as soon as May 2021, per the ABC.

Elsewhere in the city, Carter is leading the art-focused, adaptive-reuse makeover of The Metropolitan, a 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse district near the Beltline’s Westside Trail.

Summerhill Master Plan via AJC

• Georgia State to create two new city blocks on former site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium [Atlanta Business Chronicle]