An opening date is set in stone for a 1920s hotel property in Old Fourth Ward that hasn’t operated as a hotel in ages.
The Wylie Hotel, a 111-room boutique renovation overlooking Ponce de Leon Avenue, will begin accepting guests Monday, reps tell Urbanize Atlanta.
The property’s restaurant—Mrs. P’s Bar & Kitchen, a comfy Southern eatery in the hotel’s basement with an attached sunroom and outdoor terrace for public guests—is expected to debut a few weeks later.
The hotel venture is a partnership between Kim King Associates and Mainsail Lodging & Development, with renovations that aim to arouse the building’s original character being led by local architect Stevens & Wilkinson and interior design firm Pixel Design Co.
Dubbed “The Friendly Hotel,” the Wylie hopes to appeal to business and tourist crowds seeking proximity to Ponce City Market and offices along the BeltLine, much like another Ponce character, Hotel Clermont, down the street.
Typical room rates are expected to range between $199 and $249, and guests will be able to check in without touching anything but their smartphones, as projects leaders have said.
The property’s colorful history runs deep.
The original hotel. Atlanta Constitution/GayAF
As seen during an early March tour, Mrs. P’s Bar & Kitchen seating and sunroom are in front, with the original building at left and new covered parking behind it. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
The landmark building at 551 Ponce de Leon Avenue began life in 1929 as the Garner-Wallace Hotel, a stately but short-lived lodge that fell victim to the Great Depression. Another hotel named for the avenue took over, where in the basement another restaurant called Mrs. P’s opened in 1956. A decade later, Mrs. P’s would emerge as Atlanta’s original proudly LGBTQ-friendly bar, where the city’s first drag show went down and police raids were almost as common as leather western-wear.
Mrs. P’s bowed out in the 1980s. By 1994, the original location of Atlanta nightlife staple MJQ took over, before uprooting a couple of blocks down Ponce a few years later.
Most recently, the old hotel functioned as Ponce Student Suites, offering affordable university housing for Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and Emory students before shuttering in 2017. The following year, developer Kim King Associates bought the property for $3.3 million, per property records.
The latest exterior rendering. Courtesy of Kim King Associates
Aside from trespassing graffitists, the ailing hotel was abandoned until redevelopment launched in 2019.
The project has preserved the hotel’s three-story front section, adding public-accessible spaces along Ponce and a five-story annex in the back.
We're told post-construction photos aren't quite ready for public viewing, but renderings in the gallery above lend a good idea of what's to come.
• Before/after: A decade of changes in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward (Urbanize Atlanta)
