Images: Large new shelter near Georgia Aquarium rounds into shape Josh Green Mon, 07/28/2025 - 08:11
A downtown project scheduled to open before Atlanta’s 2026 FIFA World Cup—but without the fanfare of splashier, larger projects—is rounding into shape on a former parking lot.
The Salvation Army started construction last summer on the Center of Hope, a major expansion of its longstanding facilities just north of Centennial Olympic Park. Its purpose is to take in Atlanta’s most vulnerable populations from the streets and help get them on tracks to more sustainable lives.
According to Brasfield & Gorrie, the project’s general contractor, the Center of Hope topped out in March and is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year.
The 46,000-square-foot Center of Hope now stands five stories where Marietta Street meets Mills Street, about a block from the Georgia Aquarium. (The brick façade remains from renderings, but other facets have been altered.)
The Marietta Street site's previous functionality as a parking lot, as seen in 2020. Google Maps
How the Center of Hope meets Marietta Street today, just north of a row of shuttered structures. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
A Salvation Army of Metro Atlanta capital campaign, HOPE with Dignity, raised the funding to expand the organization’s Red Shield Services homeless shelter at 400 Luckie St. into a more comprehensive, modernized campus.
The current facility is cramped and doesn’t have adequate space to separate male and female residents, which has prompted safety concerns, according to project supporters.
The expansion will double the size of the Salvation Army’s current downtown building. It will house the organization’s emergency and transitional living shelter facility, boosting the number of beds from 321 today to 437, project officials have said.
Plans call for two floors of dormitory-style housing for male residents, and another two floors of individualized living spaces. The addition will allow for Salvation Army’s current facilities to be dedicated to women and families, easing concerns caused by overcrowding.
Another component will be a Salvation Army Education and Workforce Development Center with a computer lab and six classrooms, plus study and collaboration areas. That center will offer services to residents such as housing solutions, financial education, emergency assistance programs, and other specialized programs designed to support veteran services.
A portion of the new beds will be reserved specifically for military veterans, project leaders have said.
As shown in early renderings, six-story facade plans where Marietta Street meets Mills Street downtown. Salvation Army/HOPE with Dignity; via Invest Atlanta
The Salvation Army Center for Hope's western face today. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Invest Atlanta’s board approved a $2 million Westside Tax Allocation District Ascension Fund Grant in 2023 to help the project get off the ground. Additional funding was sourced from Atlanta Emerging Markets ($15 million), investment firm Dudley Ventures ($9 million), and Truist Community Development Enterprises ($4 million).
The expansion is expected to create 23 full-time jobs. During the intake process, all unemployed residents at the Center of Hope will be connected with the facility’s Workforce Development Center, which will partner with local job placement agencies, according to Dudley Ventures.
The downtown housing option will join the city’s first rapid temporary housing initiative, The Melody, another modular-housing proposal in Mechanicsville, and other recent projects meant to help quickly curtail homelessness.
Find more images and context for the Center of Hope project in the gallery above.
The 400 Luckie Street location just north of Centennial Olympic Park. Google Maps
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Salvation Army Center for Hope
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The 400 Luckie Street location just north of Centennial Olympic Park. Google Maps
The Salvation Army's facility at the corner of Luckie and Mills streets, prior to recent construction. Google Maps
The Marietta Street site's previous functionality as a parking lot, as seen in 2020. Google Maps
How the Center of Hope meets Marietta Street today, just north of a row of shuttered structures. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
The Salvation Army Center for Hope's western face today. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
As shown in early renderings, six-story facade plans where Marietta Street meets Mills Street downtown. Salvation Army/HOPE with Dignity; via Invest Atlanta
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Salvation Army's Center of Hope to bring more beds, workforce development center, other features
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