At the opening of this year, the North Downtown Athens development team met with residents of Bethel Midtown to discuss naming Phase I of the redevelopment. The meeting featured a roundtable discussion and interactive activities, during which residents shared insights about the community’s character and expressed what Bethel Midtown means to them and their neighbors. Prismatic, the community engagement partner, facilitated the meeting, as residents shared about the sense of village and family-oriented values they feel living in this community.
Prismatic collected ideas from residents and proposed various naming options based on the residents’ stories of the community. From there, a list of names was narrowed down to best reflect the essence of Bethel Midtown. The residents were then presented with the names and collectively decided to name the entire community “NoDA,” short for North Downtown Athens. Next, residents determined that Phase l should be named “The View at NoDA (North Downtown Athens)”. The name “The View” was chosen because of the elevated position of the site. Positioned at a natural elevation of around 750 feet above sea level, it provides a stunning panoramic view of Athens. As construction continues, each subsequent phase will incorporate a unique site characteristic into its name, followed by the overarching community name. Phase I of this multi-phased redevelopment will be finished in Q1 of 2025.
The team is proud of the progress made in bringing the community’s vision of North Downtown Athens to life and looks forward to continuing the resident and community engagement in this master development process.
On behalf of Athens Housing Authority, Columbia Residential, and Jonathan Rose Companies, we would like to thank everyone involved in this process, especially our on-site staff and residents, for their continued support and participation.
