Greenbriar envisioned as additional than just another mall (1964)

Feb. 1964 — Sunday Journal and Structure viewers learned about options for Greenbriar Mall, established to open up in 1965.

Credit history: AJC Print Archives

Credit: AJC Print Archives

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Facility Manager Victor Schroeder instructed the Journal the new mall’s place was deemed “the ideal regional internet site in the southwest section” of Atlanta and that its builders believed “the populace maximize and the continuing economic progress of the region justifies a procuring centre of Greenbriar’s scope.”

Today, Atlantic Station serves as a person of the city’s most notable examples of the live-function-engage in notion but developers originally observed Greenbriar in that job.

“Plans phone for Greenbriar to at some point be the hub of a 130-acre urban complicated, together with the purchasing location, place of work structures, bank, theater and some 800 apartment units,” Crown wrote. Designers Edwards & Portman, represented by noted Atlanta architect John Portman, mentioned “Greenbriar will be the most interesting shopping center in the nation.”

At its formal opening in Sept. 1965, Fulton County Commissioner James Aldridge “predicted that Greenbriar would provide as a central point” for the area’s advancement, a sentiment backed by Rich’s president Harold Brockey.

“There is no limit to the long term of this area,” Brockey claimed.

All through its very long history, notable businessmen and celebrities have banked on Greenbriar’s possible — with mixed results. Truett Cathy opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant at Greenbriar Shopping mall in 1967. However working there currently, it’s the 1st of Chick-fil-A’s present 2,605 spots in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

NBA legend Magic Johnson also set his hopes in the southwest Atlanta purchasing heart, opening a 12-display screen motion picture advanced near the shopping mall to excellent fanfare in 1996, vowing to revitalize the encompassing space. Johnson regarded getting Greenbriar Shopping mall in 2002, but very little materialized and 10 a long time later on, the theater closed.

Now, with Macy’s closing, Atlanta Metropolis Councilwoman Marci Collier Overstreet is inquiring southwest residents for their feelings on how Greenbriar can serve the community as more than a retail middle.

“The possibility for Greenbriar is large,” Overstreet instructed the audience at a Feb. 15 online assembly. “It’s up to us to make certain that we have all of the factors around here that we want to see.”

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