October 10, 2006

Informal socializing preceded the October ADNA Community Meeting held at the 191 Club on Peachtree St. from 6:30 until 7:00 with food provided by the 191 Club.Notes were written by Whitney Russert, ADNA Secretary.

Maria Balais, acting President of the ADNA Board welcomed approximately 40 attendees.

Chris Ciovacco led the business portion of the meeting, which included presentations for liquor license approval by John Asprakis on behalf of his new restaurant, Mama Mia’s Pizzeria, opening this Friday in the former McDonalds space near City Hall. Hours of operation would be from 10:30am – 9pm weekdays and until 10:30pm on Fridays. Weekend hours are being considered. The license was voted on and approved by eligible ADNA members.

Don Glass of Metro Café Diner also presented his application for a liquor license for a 24-7 diner located in the former Mick’s Restaurant at Peachtree Center. No opening date is set yet. Their license was voted on and approved.

ADNA member Bill Whitlock welcomed the community on behalf of the 191 Club and introduced Ed O'Neil, the manager. Bill offered to answer any questions for those considering membership in the 191 Club.

Georgia State University

Whitlock then introduced our guest speaker, Mark Lawson from the Georgia State University Real Estate office who presented a slide show about the $1.4 billion expansion plans in progress and on the drawing board for GSU in downtown Atlanta.

Plans include revising common campus areas that in the 60’s were deliberately separated by catwalks and elevated spaces. Pointing to The Rialto Center, The Student Recreation Center, Aderhold Center and the University Lofts (graduate and married housing) as successful illustrations of this intention, Lawson also described Decatur Street improvements that will include traffic calming and landscaping devices that will make the campus more street level friendly.

New student housing under construction at Ellis and Piedmont with street level retail will open in Fall 2007 and offer space for 2000 students.

Lawson spoke about the financial contribution by the State of Georgia, saying that 10% of Construction funding and 30% of Operating funding is provided by the State. The GSU Foundation uses creative measures to finance their ambitious efforts using financial intermediaries and bonds to leverage the state funds.

The economic impact of GSU on the city of Atlanta is estimated (unconfirmed) at $7 million per day. Student body is expected to be at 36,000 by the year 2015 and will need 5.5 million square feet at that time. Currently, the loose boundaries of GSU campus extend from just south of Underground north to Ellis and from Piedmont Road west to the Fairlie-Poplar district.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held today for the new University Science Park and will include two phases of buildings that will consolidate the Science and Biology departments (currently housed in Kell Hall, a former parking garage) into a state of the art science and research center. The site is located at Decatur Street and Piedmont just north of the GSU Eastbound Marta Station. A green roof is in consideration for this building.

Improvements and expansion of the two library buildings is under way and in late December residents can expect temporary street closings on Decatur Street as they expand the overhead bridge connecting the two buildings.

Future buildings in the planning stages include a Humanities Building (currently located in Sparks Hall), and a combined College of Law and Business site is close to being announced (and will not be located at the corner of the Georgia Pacific buildin); a Convocation Center that will house graduation ceremonies is in the planning stage, as are “Student Interest Housing,” for Greeks associations. Eight student groups have indicated interest in supporting a townhouse style development.

When a buyer is announced for the current GSU student housing on North Avenue, plans will begin for the Wall Street Village student housing near Underground. The university would like to see a trend for university housing with 300-400 beds in each unit dispersed around campus.

Lawson fielded questions from the audience that included traffic direction (one-way Piedmont will not change) and GSU bus routes and times (staying unchanged for the time being with the goal being a walkable campus.)