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What happened to Underground Atlanta’s new promise?  With the bar closing law, Underground was supposed to finally take its place as a corner stone in the city’s nightlife.  Yet at Christmas 2004, Kenny’s Alley has only two active clubs and one on the way.  This is a far cry from two years ago when at least Hooters and Fat Tuesdays brought in people, and there were five establishments in the alley.  It’s certainly nothing like Underground’s heyday.  Allegedly new clubs are on the way (they were supposed to be operation in November), but they are by no means ready and no sane person would bet that half of them would be there in 2006.

Why does Underground continue to fail?  Why, with thousands of new downtown residents, does Underground not serve as the social center for tourists and natives alike?

What happened to Underground Atlanta’s new promise?  With the bar closing law, Underground was supposed to finally take its place as a corner stone in the city’s nightlife.  Yet at Christmas 2004, Kenny’s Alley has only two active clubs and one on the way.  This is a far cry from two years ago when at least Hooters and Fat Tuesdays brought in people, and there were five establishments in the alley.  It’s certainly nothing like Underground’s heyday.  Allegedly new clubs are on the way (they were supposed to be operation in November), but they are by no means ready and no sane person would bet that half of them would be there in 2006.

Why does Underground continue to fail?  Why, with thousands of new downtown residents, does Underground not serve as the social center for tourists and natives alike?

At least three factors are at work.  First, Underground continues to have terrible perception problems.  Some people still don’t feel safe.  Worse than that, people expect friendly knowledgeable Atlantans to give them interesting products, great food, and great customer service.  They don’t receive anything close.  There are too many chain stores, and the customer service in many of these stores can’t compete with what you’d get in some of the better parts of town.  Natives know to head for the highlands and tourists go to Buckhead.

Second, downtown’s focus is moving west.  When the World of Coca-Cola moves to its new location north of Centennial Park Underground traffic is likely to take a noticeable hit.  Without something to go in that space (Sci-Trek?  APEX? An IMAX Theater? Sports Hall of Fame?) Atlanta loses a major attraction off of which Underground can feed.

Third, Atlantix will open a second location at Lenox Square in January.  While the Underground booth will remain open for now, fewer people will come to Underground to come to the booth.

What then is the answer?  Management has think about Underground differently.  The Peach Drop is one success, but that can’t be the only event or the only draw.

Theaters and artist collectives need to be included in the mix.  Take some of the empty space and put in three theaters and a few galleries and studios for artists and Boom!  People will be coming out of the woodwork to visit Underground.  Let Georgia State put some classrooms for their urban policy school, and put in a Library branch.

Retail alone won’t do.  Retail establishments which add community resources will become popular meeting places that enhance the value of the space to the people who lease their space.  Right now, Underground is doing is proving Dante right.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 26th, 2004 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Venues and Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.