ATLANTA (AP) — As Atlanta vies to entice Amazon to build its second headquarters in the South's corporate capital, details of a massive proposed development are coming into view from public records:
A $5 billion project downtown would have 9.3 million square feet (87 million square meters) of office space. That's more than three times the amount in New York City's Empire State Building.
A Los Angeles-based development firm plans to present its proposal Thursday in Atlanta.
The office space that would be created "is almost exactly two Sears Towers," said Thomas Leslie, an architecture professor at Iowa State University who is the author of "Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934."
Latest videos
- UN: deadlock over use of chemical weapons in Syrian civil war Euronews
- CIA Director: NKorea Closer to Nuclear Weapons Associated Press
- Report: Ivanka Trump Part Of Effort To Potentially Replace John Kelly GeoBeats
- Women's March Sets Its Sights On Ballot Box Associated Press
- Trump Arrives at Pentagon Amid Budget Battles Associated Press
- Catalan parliament holds first meeting, voting in separatist MP as speaker Euronews
- Biden: We're Undergoing 'A Battle For The Soul Of The Nation' GeoBeats
- Thousands evacuated as Philippine volcano nears eruption Euronews
- Legendary Musician Eric Clapton Says He Is Going Deaf Wibbitz
- James Franco Accused of Inappropriate Behavior By Five Women Entertainment Weekly
- Is an Oprah Presidency a “Slayed or Shade”? Essence
- House GOP Leaders Look Ahead to 2018 Agenda Associated Press
- Did Steve Bannon ever matter? Mic
- Nissan Brain-to-Vehicle technology redefines future of driving - Vehicle Prototype and Action Prediction Validation AutomotoTV
- Executive order targets gun shows Fox5
- Trump Mocks Kim Jong Un: My Nuclear Button is 'Much Bigger' Wibbitz
- Teen Kills Family in New Year's Eve Shooting Time
- Fire at Rooftop Mumbai Restaurant Leaves 15 Dead Associated Press
- Boiling Water Turns to Snow in Record N.H. Cold Associated Press
- Obama: Leaders Should Create A 'Common Space' On The Internet GeoBeats
"It would be like building two of them right next to each other," Leslie said the 110-story Chicago high-rise, which has since been renamed Willis Tower.
Public documents filed by the group don't mention Amazon, but specifications of its proposed project are in line with the retail giant's requirements.
The development would include 18 buildings in a part of downtown Atlanta known as "The Gulch," now covered with parking decks and vacant lots and sometimes used as a film set, according to planning documents from the Atlanta Regional Commission. Hollywood crews used it to film scenes from the 2016 movie "Captain America: Civil War." The AMC TV show "The Walking Dead" filmed from a rooftop overlooking The Gulch during the show's first season.
The office space would be spread throughout 14 of the buildings, which would range in height from 70 to 500 feet (21 to 152 meters), the planning documents state. It would also include a 350-foot (107-meter) hotel with 1,500 rooms and three residential towers.
The projected completion date is 2026, which is when Amazon has said it needs up to 8 million square feet (743,000 square meters) of office space in its second headquarters building known as HQ2 which could potentially bring 50,000 workers.
The timeline is "ambitious, but doable," said Richard Porter, a professor in the School of Building Construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Details of the project and its timeline would be likely adjusted, depending on market conditions in the next few years and other factors, Porter said.
Amazon's Seattle headquarters is 8.1 million square feet (753,000 square meters), and includes more than 30 buildings.
Most of the 20 finalists for the Amazon project are keeping details of their pitches secret, but Boston has gone public with a massive development proposal on the scale of the Atlanta project.
Along with Atlanta and Boston, the other 18 communities still in the running to land the Amazon project are Austin, Texas; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; Newark, New Jersey; New York City; northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto and Washington, D.C.