SoNo (Atlanta)
SoNo (South of North Avenue) is an urban sub-district of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, part of Midtown. Much of the area originally consisted of slum areas such as Buttermilk Bottom, which were razed for urban redevelopment projects in the 1960s. In 2005, Central Atlanta Progress renamed the area SoNo in order to better establish an identity for the area and give it a hipper image.[1]
Ongoing urban renewal efforts in the new neighborhood seek to establish a chic cultural identity for the underdeveloped area, as well as reunite the Midtown and Downtown commercial districts (which have remained mostly divided since the construction of the Downtown Connector through the heart of the city), including a proposed "interstate cap" over the highway that would extend Mayor's Park south along Peachtree Street to Baker Street.
SoNo is home to several attractions, including Emory University Hospital Midtown, the Atlanta Civic Center, Shakespeare Tavern and the Bank of America Plaza, the city's tallest building. It also is home to the historic Baltimore Block and Rufus M. Rose House. SoNo's centerpiece Renaissance and Central Parks were also the site of Atlanta's annual Music Midtown festival, which was last held in 2005.
Public transportation is provided by the MARTA Civic Center station.[2]
[edit] History
The area between North, Boulevard, Highland, and Piedmont was the Buttermilk Bottom slum area.[3] In 1963 the city designated Buttermilk Bottom an urban renewal zone, "Bedford Pine"[4] and the Atlanta Housing Authority began acquiring property there.[5] The name comes from the intersection of Bedford Place (now Central Park Place) and Pine Street at the neighborhood's heart.
Due to "bureaucratic bungling"[6], as the Atlanta Constitution called it, most of the land remained empty, with a few exceptions such as the Convention Center (built 1967), now the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. Still, in 1982 Bedford Pine was described as "the most ambitious public-private development partnership in the city" which could "have a more enduring positive effect on the inner city than any other effort in its history" (with the exception of MARTA).[5] FInally, in the mid-1980s new, mostly mixed-income projects were built on the land[7]. Some of the land was used for today's Renaissance Park and Central Park.
[edit] References
- ^ Atlanta Business Chronicle, "Hip new handle helps SoNo flourish," March 25, 2005
- ^ Atlanta Preservation Center’s SoNo/Midtown Commercial District Tour Guide: APC, 2009
- ^ Keating, Larry (2001). Atlanta: Race, Class and Urban Expansion. Temple University. p. 106. ISBN 1-56639-820-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=AI2un7Z177YC&lpg=PA106&ots=7CCxggxt9X&dq=%22bedford%20pine%22%20%22central%20atlanta%20progress%22&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=%22bedford%20pine%22%20%22central%20atlanta%20progress%22&f=false.
- ^ Atlanta History Center, Bedford-Pine Neighborhood Photograph Collection
- ^ a b Fosler, R. Scott (1982). Public-Private Partnerships in American Cities: Seven Case Studies. Lexington, Mass.: LexingtonBooks, D.C. Heath and Co.. pp. 319. ISBN 0669058343.
- ^ Atlanta Consitution editorial, April 14, 1978
- ^ Keating, Larry (2001). Atlanta: Race, Class and Urban Expansion. Temple University. p. 106. ISBN 1-56639-820-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=AI2un7Z177YC&lpg=PA106&ots=7CCxggxt9X&dq=%22bedford%20pine%22%20%22central%20atlanta%20progress%22&pg=PA104#v=onepage&q=%22bedford%20pine%22%20%22central%20atlanta%20progress%22&f=false.
