Pounding the Pavement: How Midtown Execs Sold the Vision for the MID
Improvement District Framework Required Buy-In from Hundreds of Property Owners
03/06/2025
The Midtown Improvement District Has Been Going Strong for 25 Years
An important catalyst to Midtown Atlanta’s incredible transformation has reached a major milestone. The Midtown Improvement District (MID), the self-taxing entity representing commercial property owners that invests in public improvements, celebrates its 25th anniversary this month.
Improvement Districts Began Forming in Atlanta in the 1990s
Parallel efforts were happening in the 1990s in other activity centers around the region to form community improvement districts, a framework made possible by state legislation, majority support from landowners (more on this in a minute), and city approval. And with the ink barely dry on the Blueprint, Atlanta developers saw how the model could clean up Midtown and drive new growth.
Don Childress, a successful developer with a long track record of commercial projects around the region, began speaking with the non-profit Midtown Alliance about the improvement district concept. Back then, Midtown Alliance’s primary role mostly centered on membership functions to bolster business growth, like a hyperlocal chamber of commerce. The organization had a small staff, including urban planners building out the details of Blueprint Midtown, and an active Board of Directors that worked to strengthen ties to City of Atlanta government to attract investment.
But to make the MID a reality, they needed to secure buy-in from 200+ individual commercial property owners who would agree to impose on themselves an additional property tax burden to fund improvements on the streets and sidewalks outside their businesses. It was a tall task in the era before social media and Zoom calls reshaped how we communicate. The petition effort would require good old-fashioned knocking on doors.
And Tim Holdroyd was the right guy for the job.
Selling the Vision for Midtown
Holdroyd moved to Atlanta in the early 1980s as a bank rep to oversee construction loans for several commercial development projects. Over time, he built relationships with a wide range of contacts in Midtown, from the developers of the IBM Tower (known today as One Atlantic Center) to individual landowners in the area. He later started his own company, City Realty Advisors, to help facilitate real estate transactions in Midtown. His familiarity with Midtown commercial property owners - whose consent would be vital to forming the MID - made him the ideal pitchman. Holdroyd has served on the Midtown Alliance Board of Directors for more than 25 years.
Over the course of about 18 months, Holdroyd met with 200+ commercial property owners, selling the vision from Blueprint Midtown and the financial engine to make it happen. Block by block, contact by contact, he presented the plan and asked for signatures.
“We were selling something that didn’t exist, and that people couldn’t see,” Holdroyd said. “The only way we could do this was face-to-face. And like any sales job, the more meetings we had, the better we could tell the story and answer their questions.”
All in a Day’s Work
Midtown in the late-1990s was an eclectic mix of businesses. Holdroyd said the most interesting day he had out in the field was the day he booked back-to-back meetings at two properties on West Peachtree Street. He met with the Archdiocese of Atlanta, where he had an audience with the archbishop to discuss the MID. And then later in that same hour, he walked up the street to meet with the owners of the Cheetah adult entertainment club to pitch the MID to them.
Word began to spread among property owners that Midtown Alliance was looking to form an improvement district. The outreach work led by Midtown Alliance leadership continued to fill in gaps and secure commitments, and the MID was formally approved by the City of Atlanta in March 2000.
From Streetscapes to Gateway Bridges
The Blueprint put emphasis on creating a walkable, clean, safe place. So, among the MID’s first efforts were to build sidewalks, and stand up supplemental operations for public safety and maintenance. Fast forward a quarter-century later, and these efforts have grown to include complete street projects, plaza refreshes, bridge upgrades over the interstate, street trees and many other improvements that touch every corner of the district.
“We talked all these property owners into this dream,” Holdroyd said, “and it has worked out so well because had excellent leadership, we created a really good governance structure, and actually got things done working shoulder to shoulder with the City.”
Read more about the MID’s and Midtown Alliance’s district-defining work in our new 2024 Progress Report.
