The next adaptive-reuse project to take shape across a former industrial property west of Midtown is anticipating an eventful autumn.
As our latest aerial tour of Atlanta illustrates, Westside Paper, developed in a joint venture between Third & Urban and FCP, has finished construction along a bend in West Marietta Street in the Howell Station neighborhood.
Project reps tell Urbanize Atlanta a festive grand opening for seven signed retailers at the complex—offering everything from fried chicken to lobster mac and cheese to alcoholic popsicles—could come as early as Sept. 30, though plans have yet to be finalized.
Meanwhile, next door, a massive QTS data center expansion remains in development, while construction of a new off-street Atlanta BeltLine link is on the horizon.
The property's future BeltLine spur frontage (below) with evolving Atlanta skylines in the distance.
The 245,000-square-foot project has added new-construction elements to a repurposed 1950s warehouse, with the bulk of it being office space. Westside Paper leaders are negotiating leases with several tenants, and they expected that activity to pick up once the retail portion opens in coming weeks, according to project officials.
In the short term, plans call for continued collaborations with local nonprofits to host events in the district’s new spaces.
The Westside Paper retail lineup will include the second location of Grant Park’s Elsewhere Brewing; a traditional taqueria from chef Santiago Gomez called El Santo Gallo; Ancestral Bottle Shop + Market, a venture by restauranteur Roxana Aguirre that focuses on Mexican spirits and South American wines; elsewhere, homegrown favorites King of Pops have signed on to open a walk-up outpost that will feature pops, soft serve, pop-tails, and slush-tails, plus beer and wine.
Developers announced in 2021 that Pancake Social, Girl Diver, and Boxcar Betty’s (now open) have also been signed for new locations at Westside Paper. Glide Pizza is no longer listed as being in the mix.
Project reps say Westside Paper’s retail component is 80 percent leased today. Earlier forecasts called for opening the first retailers in early 2023.
The 15-acre redevelopment at 950 West Marietta Street continues the adaptive-reuse trend west of Midtown started in the nineties with King Plow—located across the street—and continued by projects like Westside Provisions District and more recently The Works.
The property currently includes 632 parking spaces, though a section of that might be a placeholder, in that it could be replaced with hundreds of apartments in a future Westside Paper phase, as plans filed with the city a year ago indicate.
Overlooking the Westside Paper retail cove.
Next door to Westside Paper, a .75-mile, multi-use trail project called The Spur is expected to break ground early next year as a new link to downtown.
That trail will branch off the Westside BeltLine Connector at Jefferson Street and wend up to West Marietta Street, where a future cycle track is planned, passing Westside Paper and the QTS facility on the way. The $2.9 million project, a collaboration between the Upper Westside Community Improvement District and PATH Foundation, is being funded by the city’s $750 million Moving Atlanta Forward infrastructure package.
Swing up to the gallery for recent aerial photography illustrating how Westside Paper turned out—and its changing context in this formerly industrial section of Atlanta. The next event scheduled at the property is the Automatic Meet-Up, a networking extravaganza, on Oct. 16 and 17.
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