Underground Atlanta

Useful Information

Location:	50 Upper Alabama St, Atlanta, GA 30303. (33.752363, -84.389741)
Open:	All year Tue-Sat 18-2, Sun 18-0. [2024]
Fee:
Classification:	Underground City
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Underground Atlanta, 50 Upper Alabama St, Atlanta, GA 30303, Tel: +1-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1866-1871	post-Civil War Reconstruction Era boom.
1869	Georgia Railroad Freight Depot completed.
1889	streetcar installed.
1910	erection of several iron bridges to accommodate pedestrian and automotive traffic.
1928	"twin bridges" viaduct completed.
1969	underground shops reopened.
24-JUL-1980	listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1982	last shop closed.
1989	reopened as a shopping mall.

Description

Underground Atlanta is the result of raising the level of the city. The buildings were erected between 1866 and 1871 and were the center of Atlanta, known as railroad gulch, which followed the railroad tracks. The bustling district right at the train station included hotels, banks, law offices, and saloons. By 1900 there were 100 trains daily and a streetcar to the southern parts of the city. The whole change was caused by the construction of iron bridges in 1910, which crossed the railroad tracks to accommodate the growing pedestrian and automobile traffic. Those bridges were then rebuilt in concrete, and those massive structures blocked light and made the access for customers quite difficult. In other words: there was a road level which was created by those bridges, but the shops were lower, in a sort of ditch. The obvious solution was to relocate the shops into the second level of the buildings and construct sidewalks between the road and the shopfront. As a result the old shops were now underground in the basement, they were used as cellars and storerooms. Some were also used as speakeasies during prohibition.

Abandoned for many years, the underground was rediscovered in the 60s. The Underground Atlanta corporation spent USD 10 million on redeveloping the historic area into an entertainment district. They officially opened it on 08-APR-1969 under the name Underground Atlanta. However, this was not a museum, it was a collection of restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and music venues installed in the old individual storefronts. It was a tourist attraction, and as the rules concerning alcohol were less strict that in surrounding counties, it was the center of downtown Atlanta nightlife. But as soon as the other counties loosened their laws, there were also bars in other parts of the city and competition for Underground Atlanta. So only about 5 years after its reopening, the site began to degrade, which was worsened by the construction of the MARTA East Line beginning in 1975. This subway line needed space, and so a third of the site was torn down, and worse: the car park was gone.

In 1979, the site was established as Underground Atlanta Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. At the same time, Underground Atlanta was closed, and finally in 1982 the last shop closed. There were attempts to reopen the site, and finally in 1989 it was reopened as a shopping mall. Over the next decades the site developed, the Olympics came to Atlanta, there was damage by protestors and gangs. There was even a bomb alert after an abandoned bag was found. Over the decades, the location has always had a reputation for being unsafe, with crime, fights and much more. How much of this was really true and how much was simply imagination is hard to say. Some even regretted the disappearance of the disreputable, when it was converted into a shopping centre. After a lot of ups and downs Underground Atlanta was closed for a second time in 2016.

The site was owned by the city of Alabama, and in 2017 they sold it to WRS Inc, a company which develops suburban strip malls. Actually, they did not really succeed in renovating the site and sold to Lalani Ventures in 2020. This company is owned by Shaneel Lalani, the CEO of Norcross-based Billionaires Funding Group (BFG), a private investment firm. Since then, Underground Atlanta is reopened and used for art, culture and entertainment. There are underground event locations with about 50 concerts every year, art exhibitions and performance art.

We have listed several underground cities, and there are actually several such cities in the U.S.A., where the whole city moves up one level. Sometimes it is because the city was regularly flooded, or as in this case, because the infrastructure like roads and railroad tracks required the change. The result is quite different, in some cases it's today a sort of museum, in others it is reused. The Atlanta version is quite exceptional, almost a century of ups and downs, massive revenue, crime, disrepute, and much more. And while the site is again open, it is not a museum, so we cannot tell you how to visit. As far as we understand, the passages with the storefronts are freely accessible, but the venues like concert locations and art galleries open in the evening.