The original center of the city, South Downtown Atlanta, is undergoing a transformation. With historic buildings being restored, local entrepreneurs moving in and global events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming up, everyone is excited to bring the neighborhood back to life.

The development is largely being led by Atlanta Tech Village (ATV), a tech startup that has acquired over 50 buildings across South Downtown. Their approach has been guided by a commitment to restore, rather than replace, all in an effort to keep the soul of the neighborhood intact, while creating space for new ideas and people to thrive.

“I’ve actually gotten to speak with a lot of our own community, just at different events that we have, and so far, they’re all incredibly excited,” Becca Heck, ATV Community Manager said. “At the beginning, there was something here, but now they see that we are probably running more about this, we’re making things happen, we’re pushing forward again, so people are just really excited about what’s going to be coming next.”

ATV and the community’s enthusiasm is anchored in a space that embodies the area’s history and future. ATV’s headquarters are located in the restored Sylvan Hotel on Hotel Row, which is a century-old building that now houses the tech-driven team working to reimagine South Downtown.

“The Sylvan Hotel sign through the window is the original Sylvan Hotel sign,” Heck said. “We found it in the basement, we were able to restore it and we updated it by putting some LED lights in it, so we can change some colors for the holidays. We are very, very impressed with it.“

With such a major event coming to Atlanta, ATV plans to make South Downtown a destination, not just a place people pass through on the way to watch the World Cup.

“We get to be the anchor tenant for South Downtown, meaning we were the first ones in, we will continue to be here and we will continue to grow,” Heck said. “Our hope is that, as [small businesses] grow, they will actually take on and take over some of these other buildings that we are reconstructing.”

The redevelopment model is centered around community investment and local growth, rather than bringing in large chain stores.

“Part of us being within the South Downtown community is to even say every event we do is about giving back,” Heck said. “When we have meetings or anything like that, we are constantly looking for companies already here or ones that are coming and saying we’re gonna be a part of helping them throughout.”

The team’s grassroots focus is part of what sets this project apart from others, but they are struggling for publicity.
“I think a lot of people still don’t know it exists,” said April Stammel, a South Downtown marketing and community engagement manager and tour guide. “There are still people who live in Buckhead who either didn’t know it exists or they just don’t believe it’s actually gonna happen… so I feel like for a long time… we’re gonna continue to be in this uphill battle.”

The lack of awareness contrasts sharply with the scale of the project. Before redevelopment began, South Downtown was nearly deserted.

“When we purchased the buildings, we were about 6% occupied,” Stammel said. “There were two restaurants open, but they were just empty and boarded up… so I think we actually see this as an opportunity to bring a lot of life back.”

With this project, restoring life back also means honoring the past.

“This neighborhood has been very deeply rooted into the cultural history of Atlanta,” Stammel said. “The civil rights movement happened in South Downtown… Martin Luther King marched down our streets, and so we wanna make sure that the portfolio itself is really sensitive to that.”

As South Downtown grows, developers hope it doesn’t just look better, but feels different, too.

“[In the next five years], I hope there will be a lot more people living there,” Stammel said. “I hope these historic buildings are just shining bright and making people feel a sense of place… in a different way than they feel it when they go to Midtown or to Buckhead.”

That vision is backed by deliberate land ownership and flexibility in their planning.

“I’ll say the benefit to owning 57 buildings and six acres of land is that we are able to determine… how to use that land,” Stammel said. “We have the ability for small [residential buildings] with a small central courtyard, so we have a lot of creative freedom there.”

Part of the appeal of South Downtown is reclaiming its identity as the city’s original business district.

“We like to say South Downtown is Atlanta’s original neighborhood for founders and entrepreneurs and we are striving to bring that back,” Stammel said. “Over 200 different merchants had their storefront here… it was Atlanta’s original thriving business district.”

That history lives in the buildings of Broad Street, where some of the oldest commercial buildings in the city still stand.

“What we’re currently working on is a stretch of historic buildings on Broad Street… some date back to the 1870s,” Stammel said. “We’re just working to revitalize those and putting in all new modern systems… so that they can last the next 200 years.”

Longtime locals are also buying into the vision, especially small business owners.

“I think what’s gonna happen down here is gonna be a sense of community and that’s important to me,” Darryl Harris, owner of Crates, a local music shop, said. “They want the little people to have an opportunity to thrive in South Downtown.”

Harris had wanted to open a shop in the South Downtown area for a while and watched as plans unfolded.

“I knew what was about to happen down here… I would always just kind of pass through here just observing and [thinking] ‘Oh my God, it would be good to have a store down here,’” Harris said.

The community welcomed Harris before his shop doors even opened.

“It’s been overwhelming,” Harris said. “I would go to the Thai restaurant and people would overhear me talking and be like ‘Yo are you the guy behind Crates?. People are as excited as I am and I’m happy to be here.”

Now, like the rest of the neighborhood, Harris is focused on what comes next for South Downtown.

“I hope it becomes a place where people will come and frequent and just be a destination,” Harris said. “Because it’s gonna be great… based on everything that I know that’s coming to South Downtown.”