Report: Mayor wants to halt MARTA Five Points station renovation

Mayor Andre Dickens wants to put the brakes on the $230 million renovation of MARTA’s Five Points station, which is scheduled to begin in July.

Axios reports that Dickens sent a letter to MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood on Thursday requesting additional information after reading preliminary findings from an ongoing audit of More MARTA, sales tax funding Five Points makeover and others future plans of the transit agency.

Dickens wrote that he wanted to suspend the project “until we receive the final report and engage in further discussions together to determine the best possible path forward for MARTA and the City of Atlanta.

Dickens said calculation errors discovered during the audit could force MARTA to repay $10 million for its expansion program for 202 and $59.9 million for 2017-2021, and possibly more. The full audit is expected in July.

MARTA’s plan to renovate Five Points has drawn derision from riders and city officials who have decried plans to close the Central Station during 2026 World Cup games.

MARTA said the station redesign would result in “major service impacts” for riders, including closing the station to pedestrians and relocating bus routes.