A Philadelphia real estate firm just planted its flag in Downtown Atlanta, buying a 113-space surface parking lot at 289 Marietta St. NW in a deal that combines steady cash flow today with the promise of a future high-rise. Parkway Corporation closed on the nearly 51,000-square-foot lot, which covers a full corner of a Downtown block across the street from the College Football Hall of Fame and the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Downtown, for an undisclosed price.
The acquisition marks Parkway's first asset in Atlanta and expands its holdings to 11 states, according to Urbanize Atlanta. The company, founded more than a century ago in Philadelphia, already has assets in Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando, Denver, Fort Worth, Kansas City and its home city. Per PR Newswire, the off-market transaction was led by Parkway Managing Director Dave Dobkin and Dan Dean, and the parking lot itself spans 1.16 acres with 113 spaces, according to Traded.
A Site Built for Both Cash Flow and a Future Tower
Dobkin, who serves as Parkway's managing director and head of acquisitions, said the property offers both near-term demand and long-term development potential, according to the seed report. Parkway President and CEO Rob Zuritsky went further, describing the site as having an irreplaceable location with multiple nearby demand generators, and identifying clear upside for eventual vertical construction down the line.
Zuritsky said the neighborhood's trajectory makes the site one of the best-positioned urban sites in the Southeast. The lot sits inside Atlanta's tourism district in the Centennial Park area, near the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park and State Farm Arena. Nearby destinations across the Centennial Park District — including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, the Georgia World Congress Center and the Georgia Aquarium — collectively draw more than 12 million visitors a year, per the PR Newswire release.
World Cup Momentum and a $5 Billion Neighbor
Parkway has cited World Cup momentum as part of what's driving its optimism about the site, and the timing lines up: Downtown Atlanta is preparing to host eight FIFA World Cup matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this year, including a semi-final, a tournament that the AJC reports is driving citywide infrastructure investment and surging demand for Downtown parking. The lot is also just blocks from Centennial Yards, the $5 billion project transforming 50 acres of Downtown's former rail gulch into 12 new city blocks, with plans for as many as 2,000 apartments, multiple hotels and an eight-acre entertainment district.
To keep the lot running while it weighs its longer-term options, Parkway hired parking management firm The Car Park, led by Erik Ward and Jeff Wolfe, to handle day-to-day operations. That kind of arrangement is common in urban cores, where owners want immediate revenue from an operating lot while they plan what might eventually replace it.
Regulatory Hurdles Loom for the Lot — and the City's Other Surface Lots
Any eventual redevelopment would need to navigate Atlanta's Special Public Interest District 1 zoning code, which governs Downtown surface lots with specific perimeter landscaping, lighting and pedestrian walkway rules, along with parking caps designed to push high-density infill instead of sprawling asphalt, according to the City of Atlanta Code of Ordinances. Separately, the Atlanta City Council has been moving toward a vote on Ordinance 26-O-1370, a proposed “Parking Bill of Rights” sponsored by Councilmember James Dozier that would require private parking operators to disclose pricing, offer clear payment options, spell out penalties and provide a 30-day dispute window, as reported by CBS News Atlanta. The proposal cleared the council's transportation committee unanimously amid driver complaints over surprise fines.
Parkway's bet on eventual vertical development also comes with a cautionary tale close by. As Hoodline previously reported, the planned 30-plus-story Teachers Village tower at 98 Cone St. missed its late 2025 groundbreaking target while its developers worked to secure tax-exempt bond financing — a reminder that turning a Downtown surface lot into a skyscraper can take far longer than turning it into a revenue generator. For now, Parkway says the 289 Marietta St. lot is available for development whenever the moment is right, while it continues collecting parking revenue from the crowds already flowing through Downtown Atlanta's tourism corridor.
