But the Garden Hills Civic Association lost its bid for arestraining order in state Circuit Court against construction ofthe first phase of the project. That phase consists of twoone-million-sf office towers, which MARTA will lease to BellSouthCorp. Now the residents are appealing the Circuit Court ruling.

Garden Hills last year was involved, along with areaneighborhoods, in mediation with office developer Carter &Associates. The other neighborhoods ultimately supported the plan,but Garden Hills decided to file suit because it could not get thedeveloper to lower the number of planned 10,000 parking spaces.

Attorneys for the neighborhood contend that, under its charter,MARTA may not lease its property for a commercial enterprise. Theyfurther hold that MARTA did not follow competitive biddingregulations in choosing Carter & Associates to develop theoffice towers. The court is expected to rule on the issue inFebruary.