At Pullman Yards, relatively discreet parking garage project underway

A towering red crane recently erected over Pullman Yards signals the start of construction on a long-planned parking garage for the postindustrial Kirkwood district.

Plans call for the parking deck to be unseen from street level and main entries to the property, according to Pullman Yards reps.

Since Pullman Yards’ pandemic-era transition to a large-scale events space and apartment hub with restaurants, the 27-acre historic site has relied mostly on gravel and street parking for visitors.

The new parking garage will include roughly 400 spaces across four stories, but it’s being built on an incline with the top level at-grade, or flush with street level, to make it less conspicuous, per officials.

The deck will be situated near the southeast corner of the property. Plans call for it to be open for public use in the first quarter of 2026. No renderings or other visuals for the deck were available this week.

A crane recently erected over 27-acre Pullman Yards to build the 400-space parking deck. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

A Pullman Yards aerial photo from early 2023 showing the general location of the forthcoming parking garage, with Broadstone Pullman apartments at center and Rogers Street at right. Urbanize Atlanta

Collectively, Pullman Yards is marketed today as “the South’s premier destination for entertainment.”

Immediately south of the parking deck project, the three-building, 354-unit Broadstone Pullman apartments opened in 2022. That was followed by a number of restaurants including Fishmonger and now Peckish and Brick and Mortar in a 1922 building that once served as a laundry facility for train car linens and Pullman employees’ uniforms.

Immersive attractions such the Ballon Museum, Jurassic World: The Exposition, Stranger Things: The Experience, and Fan Controlled Football’s temporary arena have come and gone, but pickleball courts that double as a venue for roller-skating, “Glice”-skating, and summertime DJ nights have become staples. Those attractions join arts and food-focused events, such as an Asian Night Market, The Pullman Pops symphony, and SweetWater 420 Fest.

Pullman Yards (formerly: Pratt Pullman District) was built in 1904 as a sugar and fertilizer processing plant and was later used by the Pullman Passenger Rail Company, before going mostly dormant for years, apart from TV/film shoots. The Georgia Building Authority sold the dormant factory to former movie producers Atomic Entertainment, the current owners and developers, in summer 2017 for $8 million.

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta