Lindbergh Center clears hurdle

Transit oriented development (TOD) is becoming a crucial part of the effort to control Atlanta’s sprawl and smog problems. The effort got a boost in January when Bell South announced that it would join the fight against traffic congestion and sprawl by committing $750 million to the relocation of 13,000 workers in office complexes adjacent to four Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) stations. Since MARTA’s planned TODs are among the largest in the country, their progress is watched closely by transit authorities around the nation. The prototype is the 51-acre Lindbergh Center (formerly Lindbergh Station) development, designed by Cooper Carry Architects and developed jointly by MARTA and private developers Carter & Associates, Post Properties, Federal Realty Investment Trust, and Harold A. Dawson Company. The nearly 5 million square-foot mixed-use neighborhood will be built around the existing transit station and the MARTA headquarters at the intersection of Lindbergh Drive and Piedmont Road in Buckhead. The rail station will anchor the middle of a two-block main street, which is at the heart of Lindbergh Center. Bell South’s two 17-story office buildings are the largest components in the otherwise mid-rise project. The ten buildings lining main street will all have retail at the street level and either apartments, offices, or a hotel on the upper floors. Parking is accommodated by several parking garages behind the buildings, as well as by parallel spaces on the street. At build-out Lindbergh Center will include 527 apartment units, approximately 300 condominiums, 350,000 square feet of retail, and more than 2 million square feet of office space. Since MARTA’s property fronts only a small portion of Piedmont Road, planners hope that Lindbergh Center will become a model for similarly integrated future developments along this busy corridor. Lindbergh Center’s progress temporarily stalled in the wake of Bell South’s decision. Although it was planned to increase transit ridership and cut single occupancy vehicle trips, neighbors feared the project would grow too big and cause increased traffic on residential streets. Varying projections for the needed number of parking spaces became the main bone of contention. To keep Lindbergh Center alive, a mediator was brought in, and the negotiations concluded with a nearly completed agreement in late September. The Atlanta Constitution hailed the talks as “a model for resolving bitter conflict over development,” but Chuck Konas, a senior project manager at Carter and Associates, had a more muted assessment. “It was a split decision,” he says. “Five neighborhood groups took part in the talks, three have agreed to the plan and two have not.” The agreement calls for the project to shrink from 5.5 million square feet to 4.9 million square feet and includes plans for more green space and funding for traffic-slowing measures on nearby residential streets. Bell South has cut its demand for parking, resulting in a reduction of total spaces from 19,000 to 10,461. Moreover, a 20-acre parcel of the property has been pulled out of the larger zoning petition, since the parcel is already zoned for high-density commercial use. This move secures Bell South’s plan for the two office towers. Even if the entire zoning is approved, Lindbergh Center may still face a lawsuit from one neighborhood group which contends that MARTA is not authorized under state law to take part in commercial development. Konas says construction will begin by the end of the year despite the looming legal wranglings. “We will fight the battles as they arise.”