Exclusive: Mammoth Gulch project would reshape downtown Atlanta

December 11,2017

Source: Scott Trubey, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The development team planning a mini-city in downtown Atlanta’s Gulch envisions a network of streets and skyscrapers that stretches from CNN Center to the Richard B. Russell Federal Courthouse, documents reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show.

Documents included in a transportation plan for the 27-acre site detail what would be the largest single development downtown since Portman’s Peachtree Center started in the 1960s. Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group’s project would carve the weedy tangle of downtown parking lots and rail lines known as the Gulch into 18 parcels with at least nine skyscrapers of 225 feet or more in height, including one rising to 500 feet or about 40 stories.

CIM, which is seeking an expedited review, wants to build more than 9 million square feet of office space, 1,000 residences, 1,500 hotel rooms and 1 million square feet of retail space. It’s a project clearly gunning for the attention of Amazon as the e-commerce giant scours North America for a new second headquarters that could one day employ more than 50,000 workers.

CIM, founded by Richard Ressler, the brother of Atlanta Hawks lead owner Tony Ressler, has been planning a mixed-use development with the team near Philips Arena that would in some ways mirror what the Atlanta Braves have done at the new SunTrust Park. But the scope of what’s detailed in the documents dwarfs that development.