By: Jennifer Reynolds
Editor-in-Chief at Georgia Entertainment
Standing in his offices overlooking downtown Atlanta, Brian McGowan points toward a massive construction site that stretches across 50 acres of prime real estate in the heart of Georgia’s capital city. What was once a gaping hole filled with parking lots and abandoned rail infrastructure is rapidly transforming into what developers believe will become the epicenter of the state’s sports and entertainment ecosystem.
Standing on the site once described by civil rights leader and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young as “the hole in my heart since I was mayor,” McGowan, president of Centennial Yards Company, said, “This is the hole in the heart of the city. We felt this weight of responsibility.”
Young’s words carry particular resonance given his work with Martin Luther King Jr. and his decades of service to Atlanta. At 92-years-old, his observation about the undeveloped space in the heart of downtown crystallized what many Atlantans have long felt about their city’s core.
A Vision Born from Sports
The inspiration for Centennial Yards emerged from an unlikely moment involving Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler. According to McGowan, Ressler was leaving State Farm Arena after purchasing the team 10 years ago when he paused at his SUV and looked across what locals called “The Gulch.”
Noting that this was an area known for tailgating, McGowan recalled that Tony envisioned it as a place for more; something like LA Live.
The $5 billion Centennial Yards development represents more than just another sports district. Spanning 50 acres with seven million square feet of space, the project will include 1,800 hotel rooms, 2,000 to 3,000 apartments and a million square feet of retail when complete.
Reflecting on Tony’s long-held view that Atlanta lacks the downtown it deserves, McGowan noted, “We’re the 10th largest economy in the country, home to 17 Fortune 500 companies, top colleges and universities, and the busiest airport in the world. But our downtown doesn’t match that.”
Immersive Technology Meets Sports Culture
At the heart of this transformation sits one of the most innovative entertainment concepts coming to Atlanta: Cosm, a category-defining experiential media and immersive technology company, with two venues currently open in Los Angeles and Dallas. The Atlanta location will be its third worldwide. Jeb Terry, president and CEO of Cosm, describes the concept as “shared reality,” the convergence of immersive technology and the experience economy.
“We always had Atlanta circled as a spot where we had to be,” Terry said. “It’s the capital of the Southeast, essentially. As we got to know Brian and the entire team, it was really a no-brainer as they laid out their vision.”
Cosm’s Atlanta venue will feature a 12K-resolution LED dome encompassing a couch-like seating designed more like a club section of an arena than a traditional theater. Multiple cameras capture sporting events from premium vantage points, including courtside and below-the-hoop perspectives, creating what Terry calls “that best seat in the house.”
“We’re never going to be better than being in the game itself,” Terry acknowledged. “That’s not our ambition, but we want to be the next best offering, combining the best of at-home with the best of the in-arena experience.”
The venue addresses a key challenge in Atlanta’s sports landscape by providing experiences for fans who can’t access sold-out events while maintaining energy in the district even on non-game days.
“As we look at what’s going on in Atlanta, it’s really a diverse sports fandom,” Terry said. “There’s local pride clearly in all the teams there, but it’s also a big melting pot of the entire region. We’re able to offer fans not just of the local teams, but of all teams that amazing front row seat.”
World Cup Ambitions
The 2026 FIFA World Cup serves as both a deadline and a catalyst for multiple components of Centennial Yards. While Terry hasn’t announced official opening dates, Cosm is racing to be operational by the second quarter of 2026.
“Everyone’s aligned to get there,” Terry said, noting the rapid construction pace visible on site. “We really expect the World Cup to be a massive event here in the U.S. We really want to be this approachable, fan-accessible amenity to everything that’s going on in the district.”
Several components of Centennial Yards will be ready for World Cup visitors, including The Mitchell apartment complex, with move-ins started in mid-September, Hotel Phoenix, launching in November, and the renovated pedestrian bridge that already hosts tailgating events for Atlanta United and Falcons fans.
Redefining the Fan Experience
McGowan emphasizes that Centennial Yards aims to solve common problems facing downtown Atlanta during major events. Currently, fans arrive simultaneously because limited entertainment options exist before games, creating traffic bottlenecks and rushed experiences.
“Right now, if you come downtown for a concert or game, everybody shows up at the same time because there’s nothing to do before,” McGowan said. “You get stuck in the same traffic, and after the event, everyone leaves at the same time.”
The development will spread out that experience, creating destinations where fans can gather even without event tickets. When major artists perform at State Farm Arena, fans can still participate in the atmosphere and connect with other enthusiasts.
Community Impact and Legacy
Beyond entertainment innovation, Centennial Yards incorporates significant community benefits. Twenty percent of housing units will be affordable, 38 percent of subcontractors must be minority or female business enterprises, and the development will include public safety facilities.
The project sits on historically significant ground where Atlanta was founded as a railroad hub before being burned during the Civil War and rebuilt – symbolism reflected in Hotel Phoenix, named after the city’s official bird representing rebirth from ashes.
“We’re building something for Atlanta, by Atlanta,” McGowan said. “This provides a center stage for showing who we are as a culture and people to the world.”
The development addresses critical needs for the 23 million annual visitors to downtown Atlanta’s convention center, the fourth busiest in the country, while connecting previously isolated neighborhoods for the first time.
As construction accelerates toward World Cup deadlines, Atlanta’s downtown core is finally receiving the centerpiece that matches its status as a major American metropolis. The combination of cutting-edge technology, sports culture and community development promises to heal what Young called the hole in the city’s heart while creating new models for urban entertainment districts nationwide.
SIDEBAR: Cosm Studios Opens Doors to Atlanta’s Creative Community
While Cosm’s immersive sports experiences grab headlines, the company’s commitment to local creative talent through Cosm Studios may prove equally transformative for Atlanta’s entertainment ecosystem.
“We have a group called Cosm Studios as part of our media division, and this is a purpose-built team that works with third-party creators,” said Jeb Terry, Cosm’s president and CEO, “such as artists, videographers any type of that creative class that wants to build content for our venues.”
The Cosm Studios Creator Program supports both emerging and well-known artists through in-house technical support and creative production assistance to foster the art of full-dome filmmaking. To expand the immersive creator ecosystem, Cosm helps creators, designers, and artists alike to push the boundaries of immersive storytelling and design through their Creators Program.
“Sometimes you might have a cohort of 10 creators and only two or three might get to put their content from a consumer-facing play, but we really want to make sure that people can build for our venues,” Terry explained.
As Cosm’s network expands to Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, and additional soon-to-be-announced locations, content distribution opportunities grow correspondingly. The company has already launched several third-party creator projects, including “Orbital,” which focuses on space and planetary evolution; “Seek,” an artistic storytelling piece; “Liquidverse”; “The Psychedelic Mixtape”; and “Big Wave.”
One notable collaboration with creator Ricardo Romaneiro resulted in an original musical score, released on Spotify, specifically designed for the dome environment, demonstrating how the technology serves as both a canvas and a distribution platform.
“Our doors are open to the creators, and that’s the only way we can always be cutting edge and have the coolest, newest, most exciting content available,” Terry said.
For Atlanta’s robust creative community, from film industry professionals to emerging digital artists, Cosm Studios represents a new frontier where immersive technology meets traditional storytelling. The program promises to position Atlanta creators at the forefront of what Terry calls “shared reality”, potentially establishing the city as a hub for next-generation entertainment content.
The initiative aligns with Cosm’s broader philosophy of being “the venue of now, never the venue of the future,” which requires constant innovation and fresh content to avoid obsolescence in rapidly evolving entertainment technology.
This article appeared in the 2026 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.
