South Downtown dodged foreclosure. Now it’s central to Atlanta urban revival.

The redevelopment of roughly 10 urban blocks is part of a generational wave of investment in the city’s core opening in time for World Cup.

Zachary Hansen

June 11, 2026

April Stammel looked as if she was attending a funeral while standing outside the Fulton County Courthouse on an unseasonably warm November morning in 2023.

She solemnly waited to learn the fate of a collection of century-old buildings centered around Broad Street in a neglected corner of downtown Atlanta that were slated to go through foreclosure. The financial strife seemed like a death knell for one of the city’s largest redevelopment projects, an effort Stammel spent years helping to engineer.

Fast-forward two-and-a-half years and Stammel is still walking around those ancient buildings. But now, she’s wearing a hard hat while giving tours of an area called South Downtown, which is entering its second lease on life.