Councilmember: Still-vacant Grant Park facility not city’s fault

More than four years after it was completed, a high-profile, city-owned, and architecturally unique building next to one of Atlanta’s primary tourist attractions remains curiously vacant, much to the chagrin of neighbors. But city officials want to clear the air that the situation isn’t their fault.

Savi Provisions was approved by the Atlanta City Council to set up shop in the Grant Park Gateway building in October, but the local gourmet market and grocery chain still hasn’t signed its lease, which means the process of building out the voluminous space next to Zoo Atlanta can’t begin. City leaders are in the dark as to why Savi—a growing company with two dozen locations and counting—isn’t moving forward in Grant Park.

Numerous attempts this month to reach Savi’s ownership via email and phone have not been successful. The company’s website makes no mention of a forthcoming Grant Park location.

City councilmember Jason Winston, whose District 1 covers Grant Park, helped put together the Gateway tenant selection process. But a procurement “blackout period” that prohibits elected city officials from communicating with bidders for public contracts, such as Savi, until leases are signed has limited Winston’s ability help move the project forward, he said.

“They’ve had a lease for several months they haven’t signed. The onus is not on the city,” Winston told Urbanize Atlanta on Wednesday. “We’re all kind of like, what the hell is happening right now? As much as I can communicate with [Savi leadership], I’m trying to figure out what’s happening, and I’m not getting any responses.”

The city’s Departments of Procurement and Parks and Recreation selected Savi to fill the entire, 7,000-square-foot Gateway retail space in June. The distinctive building overlooks a new 2.5-acre park atop a parking garage, crowning a space city leaders have described as “iconic.”

According to its agreement with the city, Savi’s buildout of the space would take about six months from the point the project was OK’d by the city council. Winston said other city departments are growing frustrated but feel Savi’s commitment to the lease could be imminent.

Meanwhile, Invest Atlanta recently approved more than $8 million to help Savi open two other locations in what city leaders have classified as food deserts: the former Walgreen’s space near Woodruff Park downtown and another in Cascade.

Winston, who also sits on Invest Atlanta’s board, said he questioned Savi founder Paul Nair at a recent meeting about progress in Grant Park and was told the Gateway lease should be signed soon.

“I’m frustrated because I cosigned all of this,” Winston said. “I live [nearby], and every time I walk out the door, somebody’s asking me what’s happening. I want it to happen just as bad as anybody else. I don’t know what their issue is. I’m trying as best I can to find that out.”

For the Gateway space, it’s been a long road to get to the current stalemate.

City officials took ownership of the Gateway space from the Atlanta and Fulton County Recreation Authority two years ago, which project leaders called a key first step in getting it leased and occupied. The city’s first Request for Proposals issued in February 2023, however, didn’t attract a single bid from prospective tenants. Department of Procurement officials blamed that on rising construction costs spurred by inflation and increased interest rates.

The second stab at an RFP, issued in February, was a more detailed pitch to businesses that could fill such a large space, complete with property tours and drone footage. It called for a single enterprise to create a Gateway concept that would “increase the property value of the neighborhood [and] improve the area’s livability.”

City officials picked Savi’s concept from three finalists a few months later. Winston clarified this week that no public funds or other incentives were used to entice Savi or its competitors to lease the Gateway space.

Outside of media attention that Winston hopes could light a fire under Savi leadership, the only recourse for the city would be “the nuclear option”—to pull the Gateway lease and begin the process of putting the project back out to bid.

“But I don’t want to do that,” Winston noted, “because that will reset the clock.”

That process might be lengthy, but if concepts that emerged during the RFP process remain viable, the city won’t be without a plan B.

Another finalist for the retail space was called “Gateway Park and Market.” It was put together by a team that included Terminus Commercial Real Estate Partners, an Atlanta-based CRE firm, alongside Kraig Torres, owner of alcohol purveyor Hopcity, and Mike Walbert, a longtime Atlanta event curator. That concept called for a micro food hall “foodie destination” and “cultural experience” that would have leaned heavily into public programming and capitalized on proximity to Zoo Atlanta.

The third finalist was Rease Group Holdings Inc., an Atlanta-based company led by CEO Andy Rease and founded in 2010. Few details about that idea were publicly divulged.

The $48-million Gateway project replaced a parking lot with the park-topped garage, officially opening in January 2021. The following year, it earned the Atlanta Urban Design Commission’s Award of Excellence for sustainable design, but the accolades—for frustrated neighbors, at least—hardly matter when a key component of the space remains unused.

Founded in 2009, Savi counts locations in North Carolina and 16 stores across metro Atlanta, spanning from the airport to Howell Mill Road, Decatur, and Brookhaven to the Crabapple district in Milton. It’s known for its wine selection and organic foods.

The nearest Savi outpost to Grant Park remains the original one in Inman Park, roughly two and ½ miles away.

The addition of Savi to Grant Park, according to a June announcement from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office, was expected to “boost the area’s diversity of food options and convenience, acting as a central gathering place for both residents and visitors.”

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