Beltline officials want help determining Murphy Crossing’s future

As workers make progress on building the Atlanta Beltline’s long-anticipated Westside Trail, project officials are looking for advice on how to bring? to life a key piece of property that could benefit Adair Park and nearby southwest Atlanta neighborhoods. 
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? Atlanta Beltline Inc., the nonprofit planning and developing the $4.5 billion loop of parks, trails, and (one day) transit, is asking development consultants to come up with ideas for the recently acquired Murphy Crossing site, a nearly 17-acre plot of land that houses the former State Farmer’s Market and hugs the future trail.
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? The property, which has been used for movie shoots in the past, is home to old brick and metal buildings and open-air loading docks. ABI’s Director of Economic Development Jerald Mitchell last month said the property’s former life gave it a brand that officials could use to “activate the property for job creation.”
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? “Whatever the use is, it’s important to be sure it’s driving jobs in this community,” he said. “The improvement of economic conditions is important.” 
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???? ABI last week hosted a pre-proposal meeting so potential bidders could become more familiar with the property and is declining to comment during the bidding process. But at a late-September meeting in Adair Park about the request for proposals, residents peppered officials with questions about the study and site’s future.
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? Mitchell said that previous studies have proposed multiple ideas on the site, including sports fields, entertainment venues, and other uses. ABI isn’t set on a particular type of jobs for the site, but said that demographic trends show a need for more blue-collar, middle-wage jobs in the community.
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? Matt Garbett, an Adair Park resident and occasional CL contributor, asked whether ABI wanted to sell off the whole property to just one developer or break up the land and allow it to develop over time. He pointed to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s recent study of its mammoth site along the Beltline on University Avenue.
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? “Hire a consulting company, make a plan, grow slower, and appropriately scale. Mix it up,” he said, referring to one approach outlined in the Casey Foundation study.  ”If one portion fails, someone goes out, someone goes in.” 
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? Mitchell says either model could work and that ABI’s feasibility study could offer additional ideas. “But it does seem that a phased approach offers a certain benefit in that you do build in a buffer against economic ebbs and flows or changes in the business climate,” he said.
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? ABI would like to have a clearer vision for the Murphy Crossing lot by 2017, when the Westside Trail between Washington Park and Adair Park is scheduled to be completed. ”We’d love to announce there’s some type of positive activity there by time Westside Trail is done,” he said.