Northyards sits on a 17-acre site that is part of the 40-acre Northyards Business Park, located across from the Coca-Cola Company's headquarters. Northyard Partners -- a joint venture of Hawkins Companies and Seed Partners -- spent $7 million for the land and spent a remaining $23 million on turning the old railroad site of run-down warehouses into high-tech office space. Even the roundhouse has been restored to meet National Historic Register standards.

Neighbors in this downtown area include Georgia Institute of Technology and the Georgia World Congress. When Northyards Partners presented the idea of rehabilitating the site, Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell said "This is our dream for this part of downtown, [and] it's already come true in much more of a fashion that we ever anticipated."

But despite great anticipation for the project's completion, no businesses have contracted to lease space. Indeed, the economic climate has changed in the time between the initial concept and the actual realization of the project. Developers, however, are undeterred. Speaking to the local press, Scott Hawkins of Hawkins Companies says, "once things settle down (economically), I think people will want to be here."