Just a month after the proverbial ribbon was cut on the Atlanta BeltLine’s latest finished stretch, Ansley Mall’s landlord has built a bridge designed to make accessing the shopping center much easier for people on foot and bikes.

Selig Properties wasted no time constructing the bridge following the Northeast Trail’s Segment 2 grand opening last month. That BeltLine trail now provides a 1.2-mile link between the northern edge of Piedmont Park, under Piedmont Avenue and Interstate 85, and into the Armour district, near SweetWater Brewing Company.

Selig, which has owned the 16-acre, 1960s mall property for a half-century, announced the 105-foot pedestrian bridge project a year ago. It's meant to serve as a welcome mat for BeltLine patrons—and an easier connection to the BeltLine for residents in nearby neighborhoods such as Piedmont Heights. 

Earlier this month, Selig officials also unveiled plans to convert about 8,000 square feet of existing retail at the back of the mall into two restaurant spaces facing the BeltLine with patios and a fresh breezeway.

As seen in December, the pedestrian bridge and a new plaza area off the Beltline's Northeast Trail segment. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Just don’t try to access the new bridge yet. Selig reps tell Urbanize Atlanta it won’t be open to the public until “later in 2024.”

Officials have said the bridge project doesn’t impact surrounding nature, which includes wooded areas and a small waterway called Clear Creek.  

Selig bought Ansley Mall in 1972 and still considers it a jewelbox asset in a 4-million-square-foot portfolio of retail properties across the Southeast. In Atlanta, those include The Shops of Buckhead, Brookwood Place, Peachtree Plaza, and Buckhead Square I and II, among other properties.

Ansley Mall’s tenants today include The Cook’s Warehouse, Ansley Wine Merchants, Phidippides, Brooklyn Bagel, and Intaglia Home Collection, among others.

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Courtesy of Selig Enterprises

The repositioning of eastside properties to better interface with the BeltLine has been a trend for years. Notable early adopters included the Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall space and Murder Kroger (RIP), where a connecting trail and happy mural were installed in 2014 to help siphon customers from the BeltLine.

A more recent example is the Midtown Promenade redo near Piedmont Park, where the back alley space has been converted to a more welcoming plaza entrance with new shops and eats.

The Painted Park concept in Inman Park—now fully under construction—is another example in the pipeline.  

Swing up to the gallery for a closer look at changes behind Ansley Mall today. 

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• Come along for a photo tour of Atlanta BeltLine's new stretch (Urbanize Atlanta)