Quote:
Originally Posted by yuriandrade
Just a random question: which one is more desirable, Downtown or Midtown? Are there many people living in both or it’s just corporate? What about retail?
|
Well, they are essentially continuous, but serve very different functions.
Downtown is the historic center, and is home to a large student population (GSU), tourism (centennial park/museums), convention hotels, and the bulk of jobs.
However, it is only active 9-5 (pre-pandemic), has a very large homeless population, and has historically lacked investment and any real residential population. But, it has character and is gritty, so there's potential.
Midtown is shiny and new and full of mid-rise and high-rise residential, with a fair amount of restaurants and nightlife. It is very walkable, with a couple grocery stores and a couple MARTA stations, Piedmont Park (Atlanta's Central Park) is right there as well, which adds to the appeal. I find it a bit bland, but there is still enough old stuff mixed in to keep it fairly interesting. Midtown Atlanta somewhat resembles downtown Austin, minus the 6th street craziness.
The retail in both is lacking. Atlanta has a couple of mega mixed-use developments each about a mile from Midtown on either side - Atlantic Station, which largely houses the large chains (H&M, Dillards, etc), and Ponce City Market, which is a large food hall and trendy/expensive local shops. Those really dominate the urban ATL retail scene (outside of Buckhead where all the upscale malls are located).