On the west side of Atlanta, Georgia, nestled along the city’s 22-mile beltline walking trail and the largest park in the city, sits one of the last remaining undeveloped tracts of land within the metropolitan boundaries.
Until last month, that 90-acre piece of land—located at the heart of several historically Black and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, including Grove Park and Center Hill—was set to become a new campus for Microsoft.
When Microsoft announced the project in early 2021, locals greeted the news with both excitement and concern. The company had promised to set aside about 25 percent of the land for affordable housing and other community projects, and some were enthusiastic about the potential economic uplift in communities long ignored by investors. But others worried that house prices would rise, driving longtime residents from their neighborhoods. Real estate prices in the neighborhood rose by more than 50 percent from 2022 to 2023, according to Redfin data.
Then, in February 2023, Microsoft told local news outlet Bisnow Atlanta that it had indefinitely paused its plans for the new campus, leaving locals with the inflated prices but none of the jobs and investment. And the company hasn’t listed the land for sale, meaning it’s unclear when, or if, the space will be developed.
“You’ve got a lot of people that were truly invested in trying to get Microsoft here, wanting the jobs and resources of that nature. It’s at the point now where it’s like, are they still coming or not?” says Tim City, an English teacher who owns the DA City Hookah Cafe in Grove Park. City just began his term as the secretary for the neighborhood planning unit adjacent to the Microsoft land.
“I still have high hopes that it can pull through. Being a business owner, I know how many opportunities it can bring for the community and how many lives it can change. Building a Microsoft HQ and hoping it employs a lot of people who are qualified in our communities, it would just be transformational.”
Microsoft declined to answer questions on the record.