Cumberland (Atlanta)
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Cumberland (also known as Cumberland-Galleria and Cobb-Galleria) is an edge city of Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 122,000 workers and 103,000 residents, and is a major hub for business, convention and retail in the region. Situated 10 miles northwest of Downtown at the junction of I-75 and I-285 (the "Cobb Cloverleaf") in Cobb County, the area is iconized by several modern towers rising from the wooded hills above those freeways. Those towers house some of the area's 24 million square feet of office space (more than Downtown Miami), making it Atlanta's 2nd largest commercial office district. Heavyweights such as Home Depot, Coca-Cola Enterprises and The Weather Channel are headquartered in the district. It also houses some 10 million square feet of retail, with its focal point being the newly renovated Cumberland Mall. Although, the majority of the area has an Atlanta address, it remains unincorporated; with portions of it overlapping with Smyrna, Marietta and also unincorporated Vinings.
[edit] History
The Cumberland area has changed immensely over the past 50 years, at that point the busiest site was Camp Burt Adams, a Boy Scout reservation which still has a road bearing its name in the Vinings vicinity. The area began most of its growth following World War II, but went into overdrive when Cumberland Mall opened as the nation's largest and Metro Atlanta's first enclosed mall in 1973. A decade later, the first office tower of the Galleria was built on 86 acres of prime space in what became the heart of the Cumberland district. This paved the way for several other towers, retail strips and hotels; and in 1987, property owners formed the Cumberland CID, the first in Georgia. The CID, a self-taxing district has raised millions and has completed several infrastructure improvements in the area since its inception. During the summer of 1994, the Cobb-Marietta Exhibit Hall and Coliseum Authority built the $48 million Cobb Galleria Centre and it has become another success for the district.
[edit] Future
More recently, there has been a focus on making the district more active beyond daylight hours. The Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts is under construction and scheduled to open in 2007, adding nightlife excitement. There are also more residential projects in progress and/or proposed, including several condo towers topped off with the 35-story Park Vinings near the center of the district. These projects, in addition to mass-transit plans will help round out the Cumberland area as it continues to boom as a major hub of the Atlanta region.
[edit] Attractions
- Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts
