Downtown Study Area
This plan and its recommendations will focus on the Downtown Smyrna Study Area, shown on the map below. Downtown is at the heart of Smyrna’s City limits and is located on Atlanta Road between Concord Roa and Hawthorne Avenue. Home to Market Village, City Hall, the Village Green, and the Smyrna Library and Community Center, downtown is where Smyrna residents come together for festivals, events, and gatherings of all sizes. With a variety of shops, restaurants, houses of worship, and offices, downtown is a truly mixed-use community with walkability in mind.
Redevelopment Site
Located at the intersection of Church Street and King Street in Downtown Smyrna, the nine-acre Redevelopment Site is just south of the Market Village and Memorial Cemetery. The site currently includes a historic chapel, along with various buildings occupied by the Smyrna First Baptist Church. As part of the City’s purchase agreement, the Church will vacate this property once its new campus is completed, in approximately two years. This process will re-imagine this site as an extension of downtown’s character, scale, and walkability.
Why We Plan
Downtown Smyrna is on the rise. The area’s proximity to both Atlanta and The Battery positions the community at the forefront of market interest and investment. Largely developed in 1988, Downtown Smyrna continues to see a wave of activity. Recent major projects like Belmont and Jonquil, immediately to its north and south, have helped the district expand its energy and footprint.
Recent investments in downtown have continued to bring more life and energy to the area. The conversion of the Village Green from an underutilized roundabout into an inviting open space (a recommendation in the 2020 B.O.L.D. Downtown Master Plan) is indicative of the City’s commitment to creating vibrant and attractive spaces in downtown.
For a downtown to truly persist as the unique, thriving heart of the community, the diligent work of fresh visioning and consensus-building is required. This is a continual process that is never totally complete. Downtown Smyrna has many foundational pieces of a great downtown in place, but there is still work to be done to achieve the community’s vision! The city’s purchase of the First Baptist Church campus represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to double the footprint of downtown, while improving its overall appeal.
