David Terraso
Institute Communications and Public Affairs
When Georgia Tech celebrated the grand opening of Technology
Square last October, the 13.3-acre, mixed use development
was hailed for its promise to transform the once dilapidated
corridor on Fifth Street to a dynamic hub for campus,
an energetic business district and a vibrant new retail
district for residents of Midtown. One year later, Tech
Square and its partner development Centergy
have fulfilled two-thirds of that promise and are poised
to deliver the last.
“Tech Square was intended to connect Georgia
Tech with Midtown, and I think we’re doing a good
job,” said Rich Steele, who oversees retail contracts
on campus and is director of the Student Center. “We
certainly have the connection with campus and the Midtown
business community. We still need to develop it with
the residential piece. We really want it to be a vibrant,
dynamic space all throughout the day, evening and weekend.”
With nine retail stores and restaurants on the south
side of Fifth Street, Tech Square seems suited to fill
that niche. The Midtown residential community is growing
quickly. In addition to the adjacent Midtown Lofts and
Post Biltmore, Plaza Midtown on Spring St. and Spire
on Seventh Street and Peachtree will soon add hundreds
of residents to the neighborhood.
“We are finalizing marketing plans to help people
in Midtown, Home Park and the surrounding areas embrace
Tech Square as a neighborhood destination,” said
Scott Levitan, executive director of real estate development.
The goal, he said, is to get them to feel they have
ownership of Tech Square — that it doesn’t
just belong to Georgia Tech.
“We’d be really happy to have some of the
24-hour activity that goes on in places like Virginia-Highland,”
said Levitan. “That’s really what we aspire
to be.”
With that in mind, several of the restaurants have
obtained alcohol licenses since opening last fall. Fifth
Street Ribs and Blues added live music at night. At
Centergy, negotiations are under way for an upscale
restaurant with a full bar. And St. Charles Deli recently
began holding poker night on Thursdays to add business
in the evenings.
Despite needing to spice up the nightlife, Tech Square
retail has had a great year, said Steele. The Centergy
building is about 92 percent leased, and the restaurants
at Tech Square are on pace to generate $3 million in
sales.
“What is really nice is that with every new restaurant
we add, we don’t see a dip in business for the
others. There is continuous growth,” he said.
The largest retail presence, Barnes
and Noble at Georgia Tech, has also had a great
year according to Director Jerry Maloney. Excluding
textbooks, book sales have quadrupled since moving from
the old bookstore at the Student Center, and licensed
merchandise has increased 35 percent.
The store, run by Barnes and Noble College Bookstores,
was the first in the company’s new strategy of
combining a college bookstore with a neighborhood superstore.
“It definitely has become a neighborhood store,
particularly with the presence of the Starbucks,”
said Maloney. “It has become a place for students
and the community alike.”
The Georgia Tech
Hotel and Conference Center has also had a good
year, according to Vicki Walker, director of sales and
marketing. “We are pacing 16 percent ahead of
where we were last year,” she said, adding that
Tech accounts for the largest segment of business for
the hotel.
Adjacent to the hotel, the Global
Learning and Conference Center provides conference
space, distance learning courses, short courses and
English as a second language (ESL) classes.
“This year, our rental income will be up considerably
from last year,” said Bill Wepfer, vice provost
for distance learning and professional education.
“We’re growing,” he said. “We’re
never growing as fast as I would like to grow. I think
some of that’s tied to the economy.”
Over the year, Wepfer said, the GLCC has seen a slight
increase in enrollment of distance learning courses.
Enrollment in ESL courses had seen a drop earlier this
year, but that is beginning to turn around. The short
courses, however, have remained flat, in keeping with
national trends.
“We have seen a lot of growth in company-sponsored
courses. Right now, that’s being driven by defense
technology programs,” said Wepfer.
Overall the coming year looks good for Tech Square,
said Levitan and Steele. There is concern about how
the two-year construction project to add green space
to the Fifth Street Bridge will affect business in the
near future.
“It hasn’t been that bad yet,” said
Steele. “The bridge project will be a wonderful
asset to Tech Square in the long term.”
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