Category: Business
New retail, startup news and more
Non-profit Purpose Built Communities has signed a long-term lease to occupy the full second floor of the Hosea + 2nd development at the corner of Hosea Williams Drive and 2nd Avenue in East Lake. Purpose Built Communities was established in 2009 to help local leaders replicate the successful East Lake neighborhood revitalization model in other urban areas of concentrated poverty around the nation.
Thomas Eye Group has opened its eighth location in Midtown in the brand new Northside Medical complex, 1110 West Peachtree St. The 6,500 square foot office has 12 exam rooms and provides convenient and quick appointments for residents and professionals. Several specialists focused on LASIK, cataract, pediatric and glaucoma have joined the new location. For more information, visit thomaseye.com.
Planet Fitness was expected to open a new location at West End Mall on Oct. 1. The gym is located at 854 Oak Street in Atlanta. For more information, visit planetfitness.com.
Beginning as a small startup in 2013, Atlanta-based Gather, now the leading event management software platform for restaurants and venues, has received recognition from Inc. 5000, placing in the top 10 percent of growing companies in the U.S. and 13 out of 141 companies recognized in Atlanta, specifically. Gather recently moved to new, larger offices in Midtown and expects to double its number of employees to 130 by the end of the year. For more information, visit Gatherhere.com.
TPA Group has purchased Buckhead Tower at Lenox Square, a 19-story office building located at 3399 Peachtree Street. The Class-A office tower shares a promenade with Lenox Square and is currently 85 percent leased.
Sarah Tourville, CEO and Founder of Media Frenzy Global, has been accepted into the Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies.
The DeKalb Entertainment Commission will host its second Entertainment Expo on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at ROAM Innovative Workplace at Perimeter Center, 1151 Hammond Drive NE. The event features resources and information for DeKalb companies, professionals and residents seeking to build a presence in the entertainment industry.
Pullman Yard project selects development management company
The transformation of Pullman Yard into a mixed-use development has taken another step forward with the selection of real estate development company JLL to lead the project under its adaptive reuse division lead by Rainey Shane.
Atomic Entertainment, which purchased the 27-acre site in the Kirkwood neighborhood last year, plans to turn the parcel of 13 freestanding buildings into film soundstages, a residential component, restaurants, retail, a boutique hotel and creative offices. The site, which has become a favorite filming location for movies like “The Hunger Games,” was originally built in 1904 as a fertilizer plant and later became a train repair facility for the Pullman Rail Company.
Shane is no stranger to big adaptive reuse projects: she was a development and construction manger for Ponce City Market.
“Our objective was to identify an expert in the marketplace who possessed the requisite skill set to handle a unique adaptive reuse project,” said Maureen Meulen, partner at Atomic Entertainment. “Rainey’s combined expertise in both commercial real estate development and the arts and entertainment industry made her the obvious choice for our team, and we’re pleased to work with JLL’s new team of adaptive reuse experts to bring our vision for Pullman Yards to life.”
Shane said developers like Atomic Entertainment, have adjusted their focus to include the preservation and revitalization of abandoned project sites.
“With so much existing building stock in Atlanta ripe for restoration, the establishment of a dedicated adaptive reuse team enables us to deliver the specialized knowledge needed to successfully restore these buildings while maintaining the city’s original character and historical integrity,” said Shane. “Breathing new life into an existing space is a challenging and rewarding experience, and I’m excited for the opportunity to lead this effort.”
New public spaces proposed as part of Midtown office building revamps
The Midtown Development Review Committee (DRC) weighed in on the creation of new public spaces at two high-profile rehab projects at its July meeting.
According to a recap posted by Midtown Alliance, one of those spaces is the vast plaza outside the AT&T building at 675 West Peachtree St. The 49-story tower, located behind the Fox Theatre, was recently purchased by New York-based Ichan Enterprises and will be revamped inside and out as AT&T vacates the building and moves employees to other local offices by 2021. The AT&T building has also been rumored as possible space for Amazon’s second headquarters, HQ2, should the retail behemoth choose Atlanta.
The revamp project is being led by CBRE with landscape design by HGOR and interior design by IDEA|SPAN. The first phase focuses on interior updates to the lobby and reimagining the expansive, multi-level plaza that fronts on West Peachtree. The DRC was generally supportive of proposed plaza enhancements and encouraged the applicant to add more landscape elements and natural materials to soften the hard edges of the vent enclosures for the MARTA tunnel, which spans the length of the plaza below grade.
The DRC stressed the need for retail anchors in the plaza, whether temporary kiosks or more permanent structures similar to those in Bryant Park in Manhattan, to attract people to the space during the day and evening, such as after events at the Fox.
Over on Peachtree Street, Parkside Partners recently acquired three buildings at 17th Street and is working with ASD|SKY on an adaptive reuse concept. As part of repositioning 1389, 1401 and 1409 Peachtree Street, they plan to give the buildings a more contemporary facelift and provide active public space across the front, intended to function as an outdoor living room.
The DRC had concerns with the circulation pattern vehicles and thought the trellis feature (which can be seen in the rendering above) needed additional refinement to serve as an enhancement to the project rather than a distracting element. The committee encouraged the applicant to explore additional options for using the architecture of the buildings to engage the plaza and adjacent pedestrian environment. The DRC also recommended review and comment on the project by NPU-E.