Whitehall Street (South Downtown)
In 1867, the name of Whitehall Street, the original road to White Hall Tavern in today's West End neighborhood, was changed to Peachtree Street from Marietta Street south to the railroad crossing just north of Alabama Street. In the 1980s, the portion from Five Points south to Forsyth Street and Memorial Drive (a major shopping district from the Civil War through mid-20th century) was renamed Peachtree Street SE. Today, this area (referred to as "South Downtown Atlanta") is in the early stages of significant re-development thanks, in large part, to Newport, a German developer that has been acquiring properties since October 2016. As of January 2020, Newport's redevelopment project, was moving ahead in earnest. Newport's project includes several building's in Atlanta's Hotel Row Historic District, which is located along the western edge of South Downtown. This area represents the gateway to Atlanta's "Gulch" which is in the very early stages of being transformed into Centennial Yards.
South Downtown is also home to many city, county and state government buildings including Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia State Capital. This concentration of government offices influenced the city's decision to name the area [during Mayor Andrew Young's administration] the "Government Walk District."