Warehouse remake Ladybird Westside approaches grand opening

A popular Old Fourth Ward restaurant and watering hole is weeks away from opening its second location in a transformed industrial space in West Midtown, marking one of several Star Metals District debuts timed to take advantage of 2026 FIFA World Cup crowds. 

LadyBird Westside, a new counterpart to the Beltline-adjacent eastside establishment, plans to open prior to June 14 to capture anticipated World Cup foot traffic, project reps tell Urbanize Atlanta. 

Next door to Ladybird, a high-end cocktail bar called Incognito is also on pace to open by June 14. 

Ladybird is expected to consume a full 1-acre parcel for several years within today’s larger, 3.3-acre Star Metals District. Designs unveiled last year by developer The Allen Morris Company depict Ladybird Westside as a leafy, largely open-air, adaptive-reuse complex tucked just east of Howell Mill Road in the Marietta Street Artery neighborhood. 

Plans call for transforming an existing warehouse and parking lots into a “dynamic indoor-outdoor destination” with open walls and subtracted roofs, murals lining the façade, and large greenspaces. Expect a beer garden and full kitchen and bar for “a lively gathering spot unlike anything else in the area,” Allen Morris officials have said. 

Ladybird and the cocktail bar will operate across the street from the front doorstep of the 327-unit Stella at Star Metals tower, which wrapped construction last year. The tower’s design, as led by Oppenheim Architecture, features a curved, copper-toned facade that nods to the area’s former life as a metalworks site.

The two planned openings will join a broader wave of changes and debuts on the docket around Stella. 

Stella’s retail spaces are now 60 percent leased, and valet parking is up and running in a district where difficult or expensive parking was blamed in a scourge of restaurant closures last year. 

All parking prices at Stella have reset to $5 for the first two hours, or valet costs $7 for all evening, per officials.   

At Stella’s ground level, contemporary Italian restaurant Füm opened in February. Its sexy, plaster-crafted space is designed to evoke the “spatial dynamism of an Italian piazza,” with an open kitchen and hearth, a DJ booth, a bespoke cocktail bar and wine area, a pasta-making room, and a dry-ager, according to designers with Atlanta based firm Arcturis/Square Feet Studio. 

Meanwhile, a cocktail bar called Rabbit Ears perched on Stella’s 17th floor is awaiting final approvals, with expectations of opening shortly. 

Also designed by Arcturis/Square Feet Studio, Rabbit Ears is described as a hideaway both “elevated and earthy” and “a whimsical, storybook-inspired escape drawing from woodland folklore, dusk-lit forests, and vintage European children’s book illustrations.” 

Company reps have told Urbanize Atlanta the Ladybird site is considered Star Metals District Phase 6, which has been granted a one-of-a-kind height variance by the city for eventual high-rise redevelopment. When that happens, Ladybird will relinquish its new location and relocate into what’s called Star Metals Phase 4, a facet currently in design. 

Eventually, the mixed-use Star Metals District is slated to cost $1.5 billion and span about 10 acres. Beyond Stella, finished components include 409-unit rental complex Sentral at Star Metals and Star Metals Offices, plus about 100,000 square feet of retail at ground level. 

For an inside glimpse, Stella reps send along the below photos of hospitality-driven interiors by Arcturis/Square Feet Studio. The lobby is described as a “contemporary take on midcentury modern design" that uses "walnut, leather, plush velvets, and blackened steel throughout to create a palette that feels rich, tactile, and subtly nostalgic.” The curved seating aims to echo the building’s undulating architectural motifs. 

Other features include a custom steel spiral staircase, as fabricated by Atlanta artisan Mill & Forge, which connects the multi-level ground floor amenities. That rises between fluted plaster columns with perforated blackened steel railings and integrated lighting, as seen here: 

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Marietta Street Artery news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)