Six years later, Pullman Yards scores ‘development of the year’ award

Six years after California movie producers bagged 27 coveted acres on Atlanta’s eastside, the events, housing, and food-and-drink complex Pullman Yards has become is being recognized by real estate industry heads across metro Atlanta as a unique destination.

The historic Kirkwood property was named the “Large Development of the Year” for 2023 at the Metro Atlanta Redevelopment Summit, or MARS, held Thursday in Duluth.

According to an event preview, the annual summit is attended by more than 200 developers, elected officials, business leaders, commercial real estate brokers, and experts in community development from across metro Atlanta.

“The team behind Pullman Yards is grateful to be recognized for the experience it brings to the city,” a project rep wrote to Urbanize Atlanta via email.

Inside one of the property's recognizable, sawtooth-roof structures renovated this year into an event space. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The Georgia Building Authority sold the dormant factory to movie producers Atomic Entertainment in summer 2017 for $8 million. Built in 1904 as a sugar and fertilizer processing plant and later used by the Pullman Passenger Rail Company, Pullman Yards (formerly: Pratt Pullman District) has taken lumps from Atlanta urbanists and neighborhood groups in years past for its relatively slow redevelopment and lack of permanent attractions.

Post-pandemic years have been more eventful.

The three-building, 354-unit Broadstone Pullman apartments opened in 2022, followed by the second location of celebrated Atlanta seafood restaurant and raw bar Fishmonger, the latter occupying a 1922 building that once served as a laundry facility for train car linens and Pullman employees’ uniforms.

Immersive attractions such Stranger Things: The Experience and Fan Controlled Football’s out-of-nowhere temporary arena have come and gone, but pickleball courts that double as a venue for roller-skating, “Glice”-skating, and summertime DJ nights seem here to stay.

Earlier this year, one of Pullman’s iconic shed buildings was rechristened AlcoHall, a vast space described as the city’s “very first drinks-centric food hall.” Special events such as an Asian Night Market, The Pullman Pops symphony, and an October music festival held in a new outdoor concert venue continue.

Where a temporary white dome hosted Fan Controlled Football a new events and concert space called the Transfer Table has taken shape. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta