In the early 1990s, what is now Atlantic Station was Atlantic Steel, an all but abandoned 138-acre industrial site so contaminated it was designated a brownfield by the federal government. Construction of the Downtown Connector had also cut off the site from Midtown, and many believed the isolated parcel could never be developed.
But Leif Palmer, a young midlevel attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, had an out-of-the box idea that eventually allowed it to happen.
“Without Leif’s lawyering on this. Atlantic Station wouldn’t have happened,” former EPA official Stan Meiberg remembered.
At the time, air quality in metro Atlanta was so poor that under the Clean Air Act, the region was barred from using federal money for major street and highway projects. And without federal money to reconnect the Atlantic Steel site to Midtown, developers saw no way to turn the industrial scar into a viable development.
Using what a former colleague calls “a rather brilliant argument,” Palmer contended that building a major mixed-use development in a centrally located, downtown area served by mass transit would actually reduce air pollution, compared to a similar project built outside the Atlanta core. When analysis proved that contention correct, the way was cleared for construction of what is now the 17th Street Bridge and Atlantic Station.
“The whole project hinged on the ability to get that bridge built,” Meiberg said. “Leif made sure that could happen.”
In 2004, the completed Atlantic Station project received the EPA’s Phoenix Award as the Best National Brownfield Redevelopment. In 2005, the Sierra Club named it one of America’s best new development projects.
Leif Palmer died March 20 from complications of myasthenia gravis. He was 66.
Palmer retired from the EPA in 2025 as regional counsel overseeing legal issues for Region 4, covering the Southeastern United States. During his career, Palmer also worked on environmental legal issues related to Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
He met his wife of 29 years, Donna, at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club in 1994. Upon being introduced, they realized they shared the same last name.
“Wow, I think we might be cousins,” Donna Palmer said.
“Oh, I really hope not,” Leif Palmer said. They were married three years later.
Palmer was born in The Dalles, Oregon, and as a “Double Duck,” he graduated from the University of Oregon and the University of Oregon Law School. He moved to Atlanta in 1988.
Palmer was a fan of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. He was a large man, “with a shock of long, red hair and a genial disposition,” Meiberg said. “But do not be fooled, his intellect commanded respect. He was a delightful man with a great sense of humor.”
In 2025, Palmer discovered through DNA testing that wild oats he had sown in his Oregon days had made him a surprise father and grandfather.
“He was equally shocked and delighted to meet Joey and his children,” Donna Palmer said. “As we got to know Joey, Leif was proud that this wonderful young man was a part of his legacy.”
Palmer is survived by his wife, Donna; his son, Joey G. Lick of The Dalles, Oregon; his grandchildren, Jovanni (Megan) Lick and Wren Lick; his sister, Wendy Patterson of Atlanta; and his brother, Scott (Barbara) Patterson of Pendleton, Oregon.
A memorial will be held 2 p.m. May 2, at the First Existentialist Congregation, 470 Candler Park Drive in Atlanta.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate either time or money to the Democratic candidate of your choice.
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