(A continuation of my abandoned cities posts)
Atlanta is the third most abandoned city which really is counting the houses people have ditched on, but that also affects surrounding businesses, as well. The city saw a huge sprawling growth for decades and when the recession hit, a nosedive in occupants. Although most of the abandoned places are homes, there are also older institutions that have been abandoned over time including mental institutes, railroad bridges, and government facilities.
The interesting aspect of abandonment is that regionally it differs in the type and quality of the remaining structure. Whereas mold might be a huge issue in the Northwest, here in the Southwest, rattlesnakes, killer bees, black widow spiders and brown recluse spiders are big problems. In places like Atlanta, their biggest invader is kudzu. This crazy vine introduced to the US and adoring the warm wet weather, has a way of growing so extensively, it covers everything that sits still, including buildings. Here’s an excellent page with lots of pictures of kudzu engulfing everything in its way. As well, Atlanta might be more susceptible to rusted crumbling metal and rotted and termite-infested wood.
There are some potential solutions being explored by some savvy business people. Robert Silverman is a redeveloper of historic buildings. He decided to convert the old Bass High School into 133 luxury loft apartments, creating the most expensive loft rental spaces in Atlanta. I highly suspect that this is the turn for many building built post-asbestos era, but those pre-asbestos, it's hardly worth the expense, better to tear it down and start over again. Check this page for the Atlanta Prison Farm, a huge complex that is abandoned and supposedly engulfed with kudzu.
It seems to me that Atlanta has a diverse enough industry that it can rise above the troubles. The problem is going to be bringing home prices into a reasonable level again. Anyone who fled the ridiculous traffic and abandoned their homes more than likely realized it was time to find a new city. I'm a believer that from bad comes good and one thing about these economic times is that people are thinking more about being able to be mobile, acquire less "things" and be flexible with their lives instead of feeling stapled down to one city forever. It's that kind of seeking and exploration that had us settling the West in the 1800s.
No doubt the next boom for our economy should come from home renovation. All those abandoned houses were gutted of their parts and once they sell for a pittance, folks will have the cash flow to actually spruce them up. If you ever wanted to buy stock in a home improvement store, Atlanta is another example of why you should.