BREAKING: Midtown announces permanent park for failed mega-project site Josh Green Tue, 03/18/2025 - 13:42 Atlanta greenspace lovers, rejoice!
A large, vacant site in the heart of Midtown where one of the most ambitious high-rise proposals in city history, No2 Opus Place, was pitched for several years, tweaked, and ultimately fell apart will become a permanent public park, the subdistrict’s leadership announced today.
The Midtown Improvement District’s Board of Directors revealed today that the agency is under contract on a 4-acre site at 98 14th St. that couldn’t be much more high-profile, surrounded by Atlanta arts institutions, landmark office buildings, and notable high-rise hotels and residential towers.
The idle, partially excavated 14th Street site—situated between Peachtree and West Peachtree streets—is considered one of the final developable sites of its size left in Midtown. According to Midtown Alliance, more than 44,500 residents, students, workers, and visitors are located within a seven-minute walk of the parcel on any given day.
For context, the 4-acre site is about 2 acres smaller than Woodruff Park, a centerpiece downtown greenspace.
The 4-acre site's 14th Street frontage, as seen last summer. Google Maps
Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
Pitched as one of the grandest, most amenitized skyscrapers Atlanta’s ever seen, No2 Opus Place first came to light in 2016 as a 74-story, $300-million statement condo building with amenities that called for two pools, an IMAX screening room, and a 40th-floor golf simulator. Despite staging a dynamite-fueled “groundbreaking” in 2018, the project was scaled back and consistently delayed—to the chagrin of development observers and neighborhood boosters—until the site ultimately tumbled into foreclosure in fall 2023.
Now, MID officials are aiming to close on the 14th Street site in mid-May at what agency leadership calls a pivotal time for Midtown, which has been the epicenter of Atlanta’s high-rise real estate boom for more than a dozen years. The pending land acquisition was announced today at the 2025 Midtown Alliance Annual Meeting at the Fox Theatre, which was attended by more than 1,000 civic and business leaders.
Design and fundraising phases would follow the land acquisition. The goal is to create a “premier attraction” that’s a hub for cultural and arts experience people won’t find anywhere but Atlanta, officials said in today’s announcement. Malloy Peterson, an MID board member and Selig Enterprises senior vice president of development, said the “pioneering move” marks the first time a Community Improvement District in Georgia has acted to acquire land to create a signature public space.
Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance president and MID secretary, told Urbanize Atlanta the seller is an entity of Benmark Atlanta Lender LLC that foreclosed on the property in November 2023, but he said the purchase price won’t be disclosed until the transaction is finalized.
“Once the property is closed, we will embark on a public design process to create something spectacular,” Green wrote via email. “Midtown Alliance will then lead a philanthropic capital campaign to fund and construct these enhancements. Timing on construction is to be determined.”
Context of the site between the Connector expressway (left) and Colony Square (right). Google Maps
An early rendering shows No2 Opus Place when it was designed to be taller—a 730-foot glass statement piece to rival the condo towers of Manhattan and Tokyo. Plans were later scaled back. Perkins+Will/No2 Opus Place
Constituting Midtown’s central high-rise and business core, the MID spans 770 acres but counts just 1.1 acres of permanent open public space today. The one-square-mile district, founded 25 years ago, has seen 55 major development projects delivered since 2018 with a value of more than $10.6 billion, per MID officials.
“This is a seminal moment to secure open space designed for community gathering, and ensuring its availability forever,” said Mary Pat Matheson, Midtown Alliance Board Chair and Atlanta Botanical Garden president and CEO.
Long before No2 Opus Place plans, a sweeping symphony hall by Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava also failed to take flight on the 14th Street site, a victim of the Great Recession.
“Our leadership viewed this as a generational opportunity to preserve land forever and create a signature amenity for Midtown and our city,” added Kurt Hartman, MID board chair and Hines’ retired senior managing director. “Given the rapid rate Midtown has been developing, this was seen as now or never.”
Find more site context and imagery in the gallery above.
The shabby, vacant site from ground level today.Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
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Midtown Improvement District Selig Enterprises Midtown Alliance Atlanta Parks Atlanta Greenspace Midtown Parks 14th Street No. 2 Opus Place Opus Place Megaprojects Atlanta Parks and Recreation Parks and Red
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Context of the site between the Connector expressway (left) and Colony Square (right). Google Maps
The 4-acre site's 14th Street frontage, as seen last summer. Google Maps
Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
The shabby, vacant site from ground level today.Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
Courtesy of Midtown Alliance
Subtitle Midtown Improvement District targets 4 acres in heart of district where No2 Opus Place didn’t happen
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