Georgia Tech unveils sweeping vision for ‘Creative Quarter’ district

Josh Green

Tue, 06/03/2025 – 12:30

Georgia Tech has officially unveiled its ambitious plans for continued, multifaceted westward expansion in blocks just north of downtown Atlanta.

The 665 Marietta St. district, dubbed “Creative Quarter,” could include high-rise residential, hotel, and academic buildings, along with greenspaces and an adaptive-reuse food hall, among other uses, according to a Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill-designed rendering released by Georgia Tech.

Creative Quarter would replace the former Randall Brothers Construction Materials headquarters, a century-old complex situated near the western fringes of campus where North Avenue meets Marietta Street, a few steps north of downtown and directly west of Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Like Tech Square and the growing Science Square districts before it, Creative Quarter would aim to expand the campus and link existing portions together, but with a focus on arts and entertainment.

Another component would be the student-designed Westside Community Connector Bridge, a link over active railroad lines between the new district, Science Square, and the Westside, according to drawings.

Overview of long-term Creative Quarter redevelopment plans at 665 Marietta St. NW near the western fringes of Georgia Tech. Courtesy of Georgia Tech; designs, Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill

A Georgia Tech spokesperson tells Urbanize Atlanta no timeline for development of any Creative Quarter component has been set.

The vision is described as long-term and one that would rely on public-private partnerships to include retail, dining, hotel, offices, and residential uses alongside the core buildings, per the university.

Georgia Tech

Northernmost section of the 665 Marietta St. site, as seen in September. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Earlier, predevelopment activity razed most buildings at the expansive Marietta Street property.

According to city filings in September, Georgia Tech was seeking a Special Use Permit to eventually build a hotel and dormitory buildings on the 7.3-acre site, which also counts 294 feet of frontage on North Avenue near Coca-Cola’s headquarters.

Creative Quarter would continue Georgia Tech’s growth spurt on the western rim of campus and beyond, where the university’s first new student housing since 2005 is fully under construction and the latest phases of the Science Square project debuted last year.

For now, the Marietta Street site is empty and idle, home to large concrete slabs and one old brick structure that was mothballed for future adaptive-reuse purposes. (According to new visuals, that use would be the Creative Quarter food hall component.) Eight commercial buildings totaling 101,000 square feet were razed in 2023.

Randall Brothers initially put the Marietta Street property up for sale in early 2018, citing the area’s post-Olympics boom and rise in property value during Atlanta’s long current development cycle.

Eastward views from the site to Midtown. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

General overview of how ongoing redevelopment projects in the area west of Georgia Tech’s main campus could come together in coming years. Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech Foundation paid $36 million for the property in November that year, noting that its bones and adaptive-reuse potential echoed two success stories on the flipside of downtown: Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market.

After selling the Marietta Street property, Randall Brothers relocated its Atlanta facility to an overhauled headquarters building overlooking Atlanta Road near Interstate 285.

Find more context, imagery, and current site photos in the gallery above.

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