What should go on the last big open parcel in the middle of Midtown? For about a decade, the site of a canceled condo tower was a fenced hole. This fall it's sod, picnic tables, a set of new MIDTOWN letters facing 14th Street, and a free cardio dance class tonight at 5:30.
The site at 98 14th Street NE goes by "Midtown Green" for now. Midtown Alliance still calls that a working title. The temporary lawn opened to the public in September 2026. It looks like a placeholder, and in one sense it is. But the permanent park has no published cost estimate, no fundraising goal and no construction schedule yet. So for anyone who lives nearby, this lawn is the park for the foreseeable future. Its short first season shows what Midtown Alliance thinks the place is for.
A Decade of Plans That Didn't Get Built
The site's history explains why it's open land at all. Before anyone pitched condos here, the parcel was proposed for a symphony hall. After that, the plans kept changing, as Rough Draft Atlanta laid out in 2025:
- A three-tower scheme in 2014.
- A 74-story proposal after that.
- A 53-story luxury condo tower called No. 2 Opus Place. Urbanize Atlanta reported that it was planned at 1.8 million square feet, with two pools, an IMAX screening room and a golf simulator on the 40th floor.
- A ceremonial groundbreaking in 2017, and by Urbanize's count, no building-permit activity after 2020.
- Foreclosure in November 2023, which the AJC covered at the time.
- Purchase by the Midtown Improvement District, which closed on May 19, 2025.
Midtown Alliance's own photos show what was left behind. In 2025 the site still had debris and a large hole from early construction. That's the ground the new lawn sits on.
Why the District Bought Land It Wasn't Going to Build On
The Midtown Improvement District paid $46 million for the four acres. According to the district's key facts page, that comes to about $263 per square foot. The average land sale in Midtown since 2020 was $415 per square foot, so the district paid roughly 63% of the going rate. It paid with cash reserves plus tax-exempt general obligation bonds, financed by SouthState over 20 years at 4.08%.
The bigger number is about acreage. Midtown covers 770 acres, but before this purchase it had only 1.2 acres of permanently protected public space. Midtown Alliance says the new site raises that by nearly 400%. The Alliance calls it the last large undeveloped parcel in the core of Midtown.
Making the site usable took real work. Last spring, crews brought in 785 dump-truck loads of dirt to level it. Then came Bermuda sod, a grass and wildflower mix that still needs time to fill in, and an irrigation system. They also prepped pads for food trucks and poured a concrete base for the MIDTOWN letters on the north side. The old Opus Place sales center on the western edge is becoming the headquarters for Midtown Alliance's supplemental public safety and maintenance teams. The building that used to sell condos now houses the crews who look after Midtown's streets.
What's Left on the Calendar This Year
Midtown Alliance said the lawn would host outdoor fitness classes, food truck lunches and seasonal markets. The fall schedule has run all three. Lunch on the Green, the food truck series, held its last listed date on Thursday, October 22. Moves on the Green, the free fitness series, has been meeting Thursday evenings since September 3.
Here's what's left on the Midtown Green event calendar through the end of the year:
| Date | Event | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 29 | Moves on the Green | 5:30–6:30 p.m. | October Cardio Dance led by Dawn Peck; last listed fall session |
| Sunday, Nov. 22 | Midtown Artisan Markets | Noon–6 p.m. | 20 to 30 local artisan vendors, food, family activities, art activation |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Midtown Artisan Markets | Noon–6 p.m. | Same format, last listed date of 2026 |
That's it for this year. The calendar has no holiday event at the site. Tonight's class is the last scheduled weeknight event of 2026, and after that the lawn is a Sunday-afternoon spot twice before the year ends. The rest of the time it's open grass with picnic tables and lawn games.
The Park on Paper
In April, Midtown Alliance used its annual meeting to unveil concept designs for the permanent park. More than 6,000 Atlantans gave input along the way. The announcement quoted Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance President and CEO:
"We're looking to create a cultural destination without walls. Open, accessible, and always evolving."
The concept includes:
- A pavilion inspired by the magnolia
- A terraced outdoor performance venue for up to 800 people
- A restaurant and café
- A community building with public restrooms
- Immersive art and flexible gathering spaces
The design makes use of the site's 70 feet of grade change for terraces, overlooks and views across the park. Field Operations leads the design team. Its collaborators include Thomas Phifer and Partners on architecture, Gresham Smith on engineering, DVDL on art, programming and visitor experience, Fluidity Design on water features, and cultural historian Karcheik Sims-Alvarado. Midtown Alliance announced the team in November 2025.
The concept doesn't come with a cost yet. Midtown Alliance says that once the final concept and cost estimates are set, it will move into detailed design and launch a charitable capital campaign. The campaign has no goal yet because the final design isn't done. That's why this fall's programming matters. Food trucks on a pad, a dance class on new sod and a Sunday market are what Midtown Green offers right now. They're also the kind of everyday use the permanent design is meant to make room for.
The Streets Around the Lawn Are Changing Too
The permanent plan calls for connections to Peachtree Street, to 15th Street and to a mid-block crossing on 14th Street. Some of that street network has already changed this year, separate from the park.
The two-block 15th Street extension opened in August, Rough Draft Atlanta reported. It connects West Peachtree, where 15th used to dead-end, to Spring and Williams Streets, with new access for people on foot, on bikes and in cars. The project dates to a 2017 Atlanta Regional Commission grant, and crews finished the bike lane markings and landscaping just before it opened.
On 14th Street, the Georgia Department of Transportation has added a new bike and scoot lane. Neighbors, commuters and advocates had pushed for it, and the celebration on October 21 met at 14th Street NW and State Street NW, joined by neighbors from the Home Park Community Improvement Association.
The protected mid-block crossing on 14th Street in front of the lawn is still a long-term plan. For now, the new 15th Street link and the 14th Street lane are the parts of that network already on the ground.
The next time the lawn is programmed after tonight is Sunday, November 22, from noon to 6 p.m., when the Midtown Artisan Market brings its vendors back to 98 14th Street.
The ground behind those MIDTOWN letters has been many things over the past decade, and if you live near it, you've probably watched most of them. If you're curious how the new public space and street changes are reshaping that part of Midtown, Sara Harper is glad to talk it through, building by building. Let's Connect.
