Tag: South Downtown

What Newport had toiled for seven years to accumulate took David Cummings less than two months to purchase, through deals with seven different lenders. As of this writing, Atlanta Ventures’ new LLC, SoDo Atlanta, now owns all of Newport’s former holdings, save one. Cummings isn’t disclosing yet what he paid for such a hefty chunk of downtown, but says he’s pleased with the sale price: “You never know what something’s worth, [but] it feels good right now.”

An expanded version of the Thai stall from Chattahoochee Food Works is the first restaurant to open in Newport’s redeveloped Historic Hotel Row downtown.

The excitement about new development obscures an awkward fact that the city and developers have to reckon with: Downtown already has more buildings than it has people who want to occupy them. It already has more road, rail, and bus capacity than any eastern U.S. downtown south of Washington, D.C. On weekdays, there are plenty of people there. The problem is that, at 5 p.m. on Fridays, the place clears out. Downtown Atlanta is often filled with a large, diverse group of people, but not many of them are residents.

Hard to keep all the numbered buildings and buzzwords straight? Here’s a quick guide to what’s proposed, what’s underway, and what might have been.

The team will open a pizza shop and basement bar across the street, too

So far, Newport has spent $88 million acquiring property and has started gutting and prepping spaces. With the help of city incentives and historic-building tax credits, Kunkat wants to strip the wood and aluminum facade on a Peachtree nail salon to expose the original brick and stone and has torn out old carpet and drywall in the old Sylvan Hotel to reveal the historic brick walls beneath.

South Downtown developer Newport hopes to fill the spaces along Mitchell Street, ranging from 750 square feet to 1,400 square feet, with local businesses, makers, nonprofits, and more before starting renovations on permanent spaces.

Done right, CIM Group’s redevelopment of the Gulch could stitch together more than 200 acres in downtown, creating a new chunk of the city core. The opportunity to build a new grid, one that’s open to pedestrians and transit users, doesn’t come along often. We can’t design and develop for one tenant or one use. We’ve got one chance to do it right.

Starting in 2013, the glorified arts district centered around historic South Downtown has been home to some of the city’s most boundary-pushing creatives: upstart artist and underground rock champions Mammal Gallery; zine and cultural hub Murmur; and Eyedrum, the 20-year-old pioneer of Atlanta DIY culture.