ATLANTA — It was almost exactly five years ago that the Braves played their very last game at Turner Field and moved to Cobb County.
Many southeast Atlanta residents were heartbroken. But now, they’re watching that neighborhood come back to life.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was in Summerhill, where neighbors said 60 years of promises are finally coming true.
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Now, where parking lots once were, now stand apartments, student housing for Georgia state, restaurants and a bank, and a grocery store is coming.
Eric Hunt’s father owned land in Summerhill, but he wasn’t sure about moving his family back to the area until this past June, when he saw a new development going up.
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“It’s very neighborly,” Hunt said. “It’s walkable. People are very friendly.”
Hunt said he moved from the suburbs, but feels safe in the area.
Channel 2 Action News was at the former Braves stadium in 2017 when construction crews took down the Turner Field. Georgia State put in their own football stadium where Chipper Jones and the Braves used to play.
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That’s when Carter USA, a private development team, stepped in.
Carter partnered with Georgia state and with the neighborhood to come up with a plan to restore one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods.
Suzanne Mitchell used to head up the Organized Neighbors of Summerhill and remains one of the neighborhood’s fiercest supporters. She said that partnership is paying off in all kinds of ways.
“I think both of the groups were willing to work with us and understand the priorities of the community and make it a priority,” Mitchell said.
Now, the neighborhood has the first bank that has been in the neighborhood for in 60 years. Next year, there will be a grocery store, the first one that anyone can remember.
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