Not my term, but rather that of Leon Stafford of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writing about economic development hits and misses in that city. And in his estimation two notable, well, “game change fails” would be:
Georgia Dome: Vine City residents hoped back in the 1990s, when the Georgia Dome was constructed, that it would transform their neighborhood. Other than the construction of a few new houses, the promise of change in the economically struggling neighborhood never happened.
Turner Field: Different community, basically same results as the Georgia Dome. One government-backed effort to develop a next-door entertainment attraction, called FanPlex, was a notable flop.
So if your expectation is that a professional sports complex can transform a depressed part of town, the message from Atlanta is pretty clear: get ready to be disappointed. Obviously, if you put a ballpark in an already vibrant area, that’s an entirely different situation.
