Ponce City Market Launches New Building Project

Jamestown, the Atlanta-based private equity real estate and investment firm, has begun building out the area around its Ponce City Market development with the goal of adding more than 700,000 square feet to the area adjacent to the historic Sears Distribution Center building on Ponce De Leon Avenue.

The project is being described as the second phase of a decade-long plan to successfully develop the 28-acre site and the massive 2.1-million-square-foot building and the surrounding area into a mixed-use project of offices, apartments and 90 tenants for its retail stores and restaurants.

Matt Bronfman, the company’s CEO, described the new construction as a way of building on a project that is generally credited with revitalizing the intown neighborhood.

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The Skyline Park atop the old Sears building offers one of the best views of the city.

“These plans keep sustainability top-of-mind with ample outdoor space, new technologies, green materials and design that draws on the beauty of nature while honoring the history of Ponce City Market,” he told the AJT.

The new construction, which began in April, will include a four-story office building, a 405-unit hospitality building that will offer fully furnished units for long- and short-term rentals. It will also feature some 12,000 square feet of retail space with 21-foot-tall ceilings. The project is expected to be completed over the next two years.

Michael Phillips, Jamestown’s president, ranks what the company has accomplished in the redevelopment of the area among the most significant examples of urban transformation in the country.

“Since opening in 2015, Ponce City Market has served as a vibrant centerpiece to Atlanta’s Fourth Ward neighborhood and is among the nation’s pre-eminent examples of mixed-use developments,” he said. “We look forward to building upon that legacy of innovation, urban renewal and neighborhood connectivity.”

As proof of what Jamestown has accomplished, one need only visit the area on a recent holiday to see the crowds on the Ponce Market’s first-floor informal dining area and in the shops that are filled with buyers and browsers. Across the street, a large strip mall offers local residents all the shopping features that were once only found in suburban malls, complete with traffic congestion and a crowded parking lot.

The shops and restaurants at Ponce City Market anchor a popular development that is poised for significant new development.

Another 163 units of one-to-three-bedroom apartments, called Signal House, is planned next to the Atlanta BeltLine at North Avenue. The 21-story building will have units for active adults and seniors 55 and over and is expected to be ready next year. According to Phillips, Signal House will be built around a new communications technology model that has been designed to be user friendly for an older population.

“Through multi-dimensional programming and technology interfaces designed for a non-digitally native audience, Signal House will give the 55+ community access to the kind of dynamic mixed-use development typically reserved for younger generations,” he explained.

Signal House and the hospitality building are designed to be LEED-compliant, an acronym that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — a popular global rating system for building environmentally-friendly buildings. The all-electric project is being built to help the firm achieve what it hopes will be a zero-carbon footprint by 2050.

The innovative and environmentally friendly use of space is evident in the popular, 75,000-square-foot rooftop Skyline Park on the 8th and 9th floors of the old Sears building. The park offers a lounge area with some of the best skyline views of the city, combined with a carnival-like atmosphere of games and other amusements that are family friendly.

Mandy and Kelvin Slater, the couple who developed the project for Jamestown, is opening another outdoor rooftop project called Rooftop L.O.A. (Leave of Absence) this month, atop the Interlock off 14th street on the Westside. The 38,000-square-foot space features a heated outdoor pool with a pool bar, lounge chairs and cabanas.

There’s also what’s called The Grove outdoor space and a more formal restaurant. Each will serve drinks and its own menu. The rooftop is open to the public, 21 and up, free of charge. There will be poolside DJs and a large-scale outdoor projection screen for movie nights. No reservations necessary, first-come, first-served.