Microsoft says it still plans to set aside about a quarter of the land for community use, but that use has no timeline. The Atlanta withdrawal is part of the company’s broader cost-cutting efforts, which include the layoff of approximately 10,000 employees and a reassessment of the company’s real estate holdings and leases. Microsoft isn’t the only company rethinking its future office plans; Amazon halted construction plans for the second and larger half of its new headquarters project in Arlington, Virginia, in March, and Alphabet will also be downsizing its office holdings.
Atlanta councilman Dustin Hillis, who represents some of the residents around the proposed site, says Microsoft has not been in touch before or since announcing the break. “However, given the significant investments and promises made to Grove Park and other surrounding neighborhoods, I hope that Microsoft continues to develop this substantial piece of land – possibly with fewer offices and more affordable housing and retail for a workforce that meets the needs of the area. .” says Hillis.
Since the 1920s, the neighborhoods bordering the Microsoft-purchased land have housed almost entirely African-American residents. Nearly 100 percent of residents of the Grove Park neighborhood identify as black, which is about three times the Atlanta median, according to data from the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Grove Park Community Goals and Neighborhood Assessment.
In recent decades, economic disinvestment in the region has left the neighborhood without even basic commercial resources, such as supermarkets and pharmacies. In 2018, the median household income for Grove Park families was $23,000, and about half of all residents earned less than $25,000 per year (compared to less than a quarter of those in the Atlanta metropolitan area). Between 2010 and 2017, the neighborhood’s population fell by nearly 25 percent.
“The whole area is really a food desert. The nearest supermarkets are more than 3.2 km away. When Microsoft came in, they said they would invest in the community, in a grocery store, in affordable housing, in a bank and things like that. So the concern now is, what’s going to happen now that they’re on hiatus?” asks Arthur Toal, the board president of the Howell Station Neighborhood Association, which represents one of the neighborhoods near the development site.
“Property values have already risen significantly, and that is affecting people in terms of their taxes. So that’s already having an impact, but we’re not getting the good things that are promised when something like that happens. It has a big impact on people in that respect,” he says.
The city and other residents emphasize that the surrounding communities do not see Microsoft as a savior, but rather as a catalyst for much-needed investments. “This area will be resilient either way, but we’d like Microsoft to be a part of that,” says City.
“Center Hill is disappointed with Microsoft’s decision. However, we believe the Westside will thrive and move forward and upward,” said Miranda Blais, the vice president of the Center Hill Neighborhood Association, on behalf of the association’s members.
But local investors and politicians argue that if Microsoft isn’t going to develop the site, it can at least move it aside so someone else can.
“The best solution for Microsoft and Atlanta is a quick one: keep moving forward on the new campus or put the land up for sale,” said David Cummings, CEO and founder of VC and incubator Atlanta Ventures and of tech startup hub Atlanta Tech Village. “A 90-acre lot near the largest park in Atlanta and a rapid transit station is too good to pass up.”
