An influential pop-up studio with a singular mission to create collaborative, public realms that Atlantans can take pride in is setting up shop in the heart of rapidly changing South Downtown.

The Atlanta City Studio plans to officially open its fourth location—and first since 2022—on Monday in The Sylvan Building on Mitchell Street, an important component in the revitalization of historic Hotel Row. A tech-focused startup and coworking hub is also set to open in that building in early 2025.

Atlanta City Studio leaders say the Hotel Row location, situated next to Spiller Park Coffee, will confirm their commitment to South Downtown’s growth while providing a base for the city departments that oversee it.

The urban design studio operates within the City of Atlanta's Department of City Planning, and it’s managed by the Department’s Office of Design.

Atlanta City Studio periodically relocates to different locations throughout the city in an effort to make the studio’s work more accessible to the public, allowing residents in different areas to pop in, share their 2 cents, and “play an integral role in the design of our city,” per studio leaders.

The Atlanta City Studio's forthcoming space (with orange, in center) as seen in June on Mitchell Street. Google Maps

Since its inception in 2016 at Ponce City Market, the studio has worked on aspects of Westside Park, Broad Street’s pedestrian-friendly revamp downtown, the Cascade Storefront Redesign Program, Beecher Street design concept, and Cascade Bus Canopy design and construction, among other initiatives.

Previous Atlanta City Studio locations included Ponce City Market (from 2016 to 2017), Cascade Heights (2017 to 2019), and most recently a building on South Broad Street (2019 to 2022).

In related news, South Downtown owners Atlanta Ventures have recently rolled out a system of high-tech sensors and AI-powered security cameras as a means of thwarting and reporting crime in the 10-block district.

Elsewhere in South Downtown, work is revving up on what’s called “Project Elle,” an L-shaped collection of more than 25 buildings that begins at Ted Turner Drive/Mitchell Street and bends around to Broad Street and up to Five Points.

Plans call for converting that to more than 100 adaptive-reuse apartments, 150,000 square feet of commercial space, and the 31,000-square-foot Atlanta Tech Village—Sylvan, the downtown coworking answer to Buckhead’s tech startup hub. Atlanta Ventures’ goal, officials said in July, is to be under construction on the majority of those buildings by the end of 2024.  

How historic Hotel Row facades have come together in South Downtown. Google Maps

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