Centennial Yards: $5B Downtown Revitalization in Atlanta

Name: How Atlanta Plans to Rebuild Its Downtown
Uploaded: 2026-03-31T08:30:28.799842+00:00
Duration: 10 min
Channel: Bloomberg Originals
Description: Summary and key takeaways on How Atlanta Plans to Rebuild Its Downtown: Summary & Key Takeaways, covering The Gulch At the heart of downtown Atlanta lies a

Bloomberg Originals

Mar 31, 2026

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10 min video

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YouTube video ID: p6ouOSg3mP0

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At the heart of downtown Atlanta lies a 40‑acre swath known as “The Gulch.” For roughly a century the site has remained a “no man’s land” beneath intersecting railroads, creating an engineering puzzle that no developer had been able to solve. The area sits directly under active rail lines and MARTA tracks, making conventional construction impossible.

Centennial Yards

Centennial Yards is a $5 billion mixed‑use vision that seeks to turn the Gulch into a vibrant district. The plan calls for 6 million square feet of development, including 1 million square feet of retail, 5,000 apartments and a 500,000‑square‑foot entertainment zone. Construction began in 2021, and the project aims to showcase tangible progress by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hoping it will become “the axle around which the city will spin.”

Engineering Challenges

Because the site rests on active rail infrastructure, every new building must sit on stilts about 40 feet high to match the level of existing viaducts. The lack of basic utilities—electricity, water, sewer—requires an estimated $300 million to install, and raising structures to the street‑grid level adds another $400 million.

Development Team

The venture is led by Tony Ressler, owner of the Atlanta Hawks, and his brother Richard Ressler of CIM Group. The investor roster includes Arthur Blank, Grant Hill, 2 Chainz, Usher, Shaquille O’Neal, John Bryant and former Ambassador Andrew Young. CIM Group contributes experience from large‑scale projects in Los Angeles, Miami and Denver, reinforcing the team’s capacity to tackle the complex build.

Financial and Political Hurdles

Atlanta issued bonds to support Centennial Yards, but developers bear the upfront risk and receive bond proceeds only after generating sufficient property and sales tax revenue to repay them. Opposition focused on the use of public money and concerns about affordable housing. In response, a $28 million affordable‑housing trust fund was established after developers missed initial housing targets. The development is projected to create upwards of 10,000 jobs and broaden the city’s tax base.

Future Outlook

The project’s timeline is anchored to the 2026 World Cup, creating a sense of urgency: “The clock is already ticking.” If successful, Centennial Yards could redefine downtown Atlanta’s landscape, delivering new housing, retail and entertainment while integrating community benefits through the affordable‑housing fund and job creation.

Takeaways

Centennial Yards is a $5 billion, 40‑acre mixed‑use development that aims to convert Atlanta’s long‑idle “Gulch” into a 6 million‑square‑foot district with retail, housing and entertainment.
The project must be built on 40‑foot stilts over active rail lines and requires roughly $300 million for basic utilities and $400 million to raise structures to street‑grid level.
Developers led by Tony and Richard Ressler, together with investors such as Arthur Blank, Grant Hill and Andrew Young, provide the equity while the city issues bonds that are repaid only if tax revenues cover them.
Opposition over public‑fund use led to the creation of a $28 million affordable‑housing trust, and the development is projected to generate about 10,000 jobs and expand Atlanta’s tax base.
Construction began in 2021 with a target to showcase progress by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, positioning Centennial Yards as a potential “axle” for the city’s future growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are the developers financing Centennial Yards while minimizing risk to the city?

The developers front the initial equity; the city issues bonds that are only repaid if the project produces enough property and sales tax revenue. This structure shifts construction risk to the private team while tying public funds to measurable tax returns.

Why must Centennial Yards be built on 40‑foot stilts?

Because the site sits atop a junction of active rail lines and MARTA tracks, any new structure must clear the existing tracks, requiring 40‑foot‑high stilts that align with the current viaducts. This solution avoids disrupting rail service while creating usable space above.

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Helpful resources related to this video

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Books On Urban Planning And Development Recommended

Provides foundational knowledge on the complexities of city building, zoning, and large-scale infrastructure projects like Centennial Yards.

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History Of Atlanta Urban Development Book

Offers historical context on Atlanta's growth, helping the reader understand the significance of 'The Gulch' in the city's evolution.

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Civil Engineering Structural Design Reference Book

Explains the technical challenges of building over active rail lines and infrastructure, mirroring the engineering feats required for this project.

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Full Transcript YouTube

The Gulch is this area right in the middle of Atlanta.
Sort of dark, dank
no man's land under the roadway,
an extremely difficult,
intractable place to develop.
It's a $5 billion project.
It really is going to transform
downtown Atlanta.
It was really ambitious.
It just looked complicated.
To even start to build one thing,
you'd have to invest $800 million.
You have to build these massive structures
over active rail lines.
Will people, in fact,
come to downtown Atlanta?
Tony and his partners only get that money
if they perform.
Atlanta.
One of the most dynamic
cultural engines in America.
But as metro Atlanta has boomed,
its original downtown
has been left behind - until now.
It's called Centennial Yards.
We're building 6,000,000 square feet.
It'll be 1,000,000 square feet of retail,
5,000 apartments, half a million
square foot entertainment district.
It's opening up just as the World Cup
is coming here.
With billions on the line,
a global deadline approaching
and decades of failure behind it,
Centennial Yards is the biggest gamble
Atlanta has made on its downtown
in a generation.
I wish we were further along.
The clock is already ticking.
Hey hey hey hey hey.
Tony, here we are.
State Farm Arena, home of the Hawks.
What's this all about?
The Atlanta community treats 
MLK weekend as something
extraordinarily special.
This is the home of Martin Luther King.
Brave
Tony Ressler bought the Atlanta Hawks
in 2015 for $850 million
and hoped to turn a losing franchise
into a winner.
But bringing life back
to the old heart of the city may prove
to be an even bigger challenge.
When Martin Luther King came back in 1960,
I joined him in ‘61
we wanted to establish
some kind of new world order,
where we could wipe out the diseases
and stigmas
of the world that divided us and
build one nation, 
one city under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
In the 1960s, Auburn Avenue anchored a
thriving downtown Atlanta.
Professional sports teams
were turning Atlanta into their home
at the same time
that this place was becoming
the sort of cradle of the Civil
Rights Movement.
And Oh Lord, make sacred the memory
of Martin Luther King.
After the 1960s, White flight
and suburbanization
moved power and investment 
outward from downtown,
and as Atlanta grew, the 
center of gravity started to shift.
Right after I got in Congress,
we started building
Highway 285, which circles the city.
You started seeing these other skylines
begin to take shape.
My generation
coming out of college in the mid ‘90s,
like, Atlanta was the place to be.
Atlanta influences everything, whether
it's the hip hop community or its 
Tyler Perry Studios or Fortune 500 companies
or the Atlanta University Center.
By the 1990s, Atlanta was a city
with a growing global footprint.
Winning the 1996 Olympic Games
was supposed to bring the world
back to downtown. 
The summer of ‘96
and being on that Olympic team
playing in the old Georgia Dome,
there was a lot of optimism
for downtown Atlanta in terms of what
the Olympics was going to bring,
and I know there was disappointment
that it didn't have that impact
that everyone thought it could.
When the Games ended, downtown
failed to hold on to the Olympic momentum,
its many notable attractions and
neighborhoods still disconnected from one
another due to the massive 40-acre
swath of abandoned and undeveloped land.
When the baseball stadium left downtown,
which happened just as we purchased
the Atlanta Hawks, we had determined
then that we thought downtown
Atlanta could be a really remarkable
transformation if done properly.
We had an appreciation
that there was this rather
large parcel referred to as the Gulch.
I guess for the prior 100 years,
no one had figured out what to do with it.
The junction of railroads
that gave downtown Atlanta its original
purpose left an engineering puzzle
that no developer had been able to solve.
You have to build up to get at street grid.
We estimate that cost $400 million.
Second is, in the hole,
there's no infrastructure -
no electricity, no water, no sewer.
Maybe what, another $300 million?
These railways are still running.
Yeah. This is an active rail line.
That's an active rail line.
The MARTA line runs through right there.
Does that complicate construction?
Extremely.
So everything we build has to be on
stilts, essentially 40 feet up
to match that level of the viaducts.
When Tony came in, he saw that
and he asked what it is
when he was coming in to do due diligence
to buy the team
and explained to him about the railroad
and viaducts, and he said we're going to build
LA Live there.
And I'm like, sure you are.
Early on, Tony Ressler was made aware that
if it was a really inclusive project that underscored 
the unique diversity of this city
he stood a chance to be successful.
One of Tony's big partners on this deal
is also his partner in the Atlanta Hawks
and that's the legendary Grant Hill.
Been in professional sports
my entire life, and to now sort of
be a steward of a franchise in a sense,
and have this responsibility,
it's important.
Grant played a role in helping Tony assemble
this all-star team of investors.
It’s everyone from Arthur Blank,
who owns the Falcons,
to 2 Chainz, the famous local rapper.
 The Russell family, to John Bryant, to Usher,
to Shaq, to Ambassador Andrew Young.
Tony Ressler is a people person,
there's nobody that doesn't love him
and believe in him.
And then Tony happens
to have a brother named Richard Ressler
who's the chairman
and founder of CIM Group.
Our friends at CIM, they had successful
developments in Los Angeles, Miami, Denver
that took really large,
complicated downtown developments. 
For this to be successful,
it wasn't going to be small.
Ressler and the CIM Group
would need to convince the city of Atlanta
to contribute billions of dollars
for Centennial Yards to become a reality.
We came together, negotiated a deal.
They said we will put in the initial
investment, so no money from the city.
We said we would issue bonds.
I have to admit
we had support and opposition.
Those who opposed the deal
are concerned about the use of tax dollars
and how the project will affect
affordable housing.
Affordable housing is probably the biggest
challenge that we have as a city.
So when
this huge transaction was before me,
I had this whole wish list.
I said, I want an affordable
housing trust fund,
equity ownership
for minority participation
and the list went on.
There was an in lieu of contribution
that they would have to make
if they didn't hit certain numbers towards
affordable housing,
and they didn't hit those numbers, and
they had to write a very big check for it.
That allowed us to create this $28
million affordable housing trust fund,
and we got it done.
A Fulton County judge upheld
the city's issuance of the bonds,
and Centennial Yards
could finally move forward.
We think at the end, there's
going to be upwards of 10,000 jobs
that are going to be created.
We take on no risk,
we put no initial dollars
and yet together we're going to build
the tax base, property tax and sales tax.
If they do not generate the taxes,
there's nothing for them to pay themselves back.
Construction began in 2021 and completion
is years away, but
another global deadline is much closer,
the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Damn, I wish we were further along.
We're going to have some things built.
We're going to absolutely be able
to showcase what we're building.
We have about six separate developments
going on simultaneously.
Here we're going to have a 5,300-seat
Live Nation concert hall.
Cosm.
Here's the home of the Hawks right here.
You're literally across the street
from State Farm Arena.
Behind us is Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Access right across the street
to this entire establishment.
I just think in the world we're in now,
we need to connect.
We need to see
we have more in common than not.
I see that all the time in our arena.
Having that downtown,
having sports, having entertainment,
all of that, that is so important.
Time for people to come together.
The biggest challenge will be to make sure
that all of our communities
get to be a part of it,
that it's not this place
that people are outside
the glass looking in.
Tony Ressler, he’s like Hank Aaron.
Came here when we needed a winner.
Hopefully it will become the axle around
which the city will spin.
We got a vision of the city of the future.