The Midtown people enjoy today — walkable, densely developed and filled with arts and culture — is in no small part the fruits of Susan Mendheim’s passion and life’s work.
Mendheim was the driving force behind what became the Midtown Alliance, the business and civic group she led for nearly 30 years that has helped steer development of the district for the past four decades. The late 1990s effort Mendheim led called Blueprint Midtown, the bible of the neighborhood’s development and the largest rezoning effort in Atlanta’s history, is still followed today.
Soft-spoken with a gift for storytelling, Mendheim sold CEOs, politicians and residents alike a vision of a cosmopolitan neighborhood in a slice of the city that in the early 1980s was known more for drug dealing, vacant buildings and weedy parking lots.
“When Susan took over, it was not the Midtown that you see today,” said Central Atlanta Progress President and CEO AJ Robinson. “She worked very hard to paint a futuristic vision of Midtown that before had never existed. You can look at the Midtown skyline today and attribute much of her years of service to (building it).”
Credit: Courtesy Midtown Alliance
Credit: Courtesy Midtown Alliance
Mendheim, 81, died early Wednesday morning, according to a representative for her family. A cause of death was not released, but the representative said Mendheim died peacefully. She retired from the Midtown Alliance in 2011 as the economy was still shaken by the Great Recession. But by then Midtown’s ascendance was clear.
Kevin Green, who succeeded Mendheim as leader of the Midtown Alliance, said in the early 1980s, about 70% of Midtown’s acreage was parking lots, obsolete warehouses and low-slung buildings.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC
“Lots of vacant lots, lots of vice, crime and not much good happening after dark,” Green said. “And frankly a place where in 1996 that people who came to the Olympics were advised not to come here. So, contrast that with the Midtown you see today and the proof is evident.”
Today, Midtown is Atlanta’s corporate and arts capital. It is home to Georgia Tech’s ever-expanding Technology Square and the headquarters of huge companies such as Norfolk Southern and major law firms such as King & Spalding. The Woodruff Arts Center and Fox Theatre remain icons of the city’s arts scene and have thrived as Midtown developed around them.
From 2018 to early 2024, the neighborhood has added 46 buildings to its domain with another 20 either being proposed or beginning construction, according to the Midtown Alliance. Those delivered buildings, which are a mix of offices, apartments, condos and hotels, have a combined estimated value of $8.4 billion. In that span, the number of new housing units to open in Midtown increased 58%.
Mendheim took on the role of Midtown Alliance’s leader in 1982 before it was a stand-alone organization. The Alliance was born out of Central Atlanta Progress, the downtown business and civic coalition.
Credit: Courtesy Midtown Alliance
Credit: Courtesy Midtown Alliance
Steve Nygren, creator of Serenbe and a legendary Atlanta restaurateur, became chairman of the Midtown Alliance the same year and remains on the board. He said Mendheim had an indefatigable spirit.
“She was a single mom raising kids, and (in that era) not the likely person to head a business organization, and Midtown was a very different place,” he said. “But Susan had a can-do positive attitude no matter what was presented.”
Credit: Rich Addicks / raddicks@ajc.com
Credit: Rich Addicks / raddicks@ajc.com
One of the tipping points for Midtown was the attraction of IBM in the mid-1980s to open a Southeastern hub in the gilded tower now known as One Atlantic Center at 14th and West Peachtree streets, Nygren said. Mendheim had an eye for details. She pushed for the planting of pansies in planter boxes and cleaning up streets.
The streetscape improvements, including the planting of those pansies, Nygren said, contributed to IBM picking Midtown over Buckhead and Central Perimeter.
“When IBM selected Midtown, everyone suddenly saw Midtown in different eyes,” he said.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said she got to know Mendheim when she worked in the administrations of former mayors Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young. Franklin described Mendheim’s leadership as collaborative. She led with grace and did not crave accolades.
“(Susan) led when women were not readily recognized as leaders,” Franklin said. “It may be that it seemed impossible, so the guys let her do it … and then she went and did it.”
In a statement, Mendheim’s family said she “devoted her life to Midtown, both personally and professionally.”
“She believed that Midtown could be more than a thoroughfare between Buckhead and Downtown,” the statement said. “She viewed Midtown as a thriving business and residential area where Atlanta could come together physically and socially.”
Mendheim is survived by her daughters Elizabeth Mendheim Thompson and Kristi Mendheim; son-in-law Kevin Thompson; sister Elizabeth Shumard; brother-in-law Terry Shumard; and grandchildren Caleb Thompson and Cameron Thompson.
A public memorial service has not been scheduled.
