The Turner Field area -- now dominated by the ballpark and parking lots -- "could be a denser more walkable community with a street grid much like what was lost decades ago," according to J. Scott Trubey of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. That is the "vision of a 92-page draft of a Livable Center Initiative master plan, released online." It shows "higher density housing, retail, office space, parks, a football stadium" for Georgia State Univ. where Turner Field now stands and "transit linking neighborhoods south of I-20 to the rest of downtown." GSU and development partners Carter and Oakwood Development are "in negotiations to purchase 67-acres, including the stadium and surrounding parking lots for future development." They also have proposed a GSU baseball field "go in the footprint of the former Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and preserving the Hank Aaron home run wall." The final sales contract "could be finalized in the coming weeks, with a sale expected to be concluded before the end of the year" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 7/26).
