DOT Approves Contract With Cousins

September 16,2011

On Thursday, the Georgia Department of Transportation board approved a team led by Cousins Properties to become the master developer of a multimodal passenger terminal (MMPT) station in Downtown Atlanta.

Along with Atlanta-based Cousins, the team includes the Integral Group, Forest City Enterprises, FC Asset Services, Cooper Carry, Urban Collage, FXFOWLE, Kimley-Horn & Associates and Parsons Brinckerhoff.

The team was selected from three finalists last March. The DOT held public hearings, and then it took months to negotiate the scope of the contract, a DOT official said.

The DOT envisions a "mini-city" atop a connecting point for buses, MARTA and future transit at the "Gulch," an area near CNN Center and Philips Arena.

Part of the master development team’s job is to determine the best place in a 120-acre area for the station and to find a way to use private development to help fund the passenger terminal.

Given all the planning yet to come, it could take years for the project to break ground.