Not every compelling development idea in Atlanta has to involve sky-piercing architecture or dazzling greenspaces built atop freeways. Sometimes subtlety is worth acknowledging, too.
And that’s the point with the latest addition to Georgia Avenue’s dining and drinking row—that the building’s newness almost doesn’t register because it blends with what’s always been there.
At the street’s eastern end, the new building—72 Georgia Avenue—was recently finished with slots for five businesses. Four have been claimed, and developer Carter is “very close to finalizing a lease on the one remaining space,” the company’s director of marketing, Cathryn Houchins, tells Urbanize Atlanta.
The new block as seen from the west, with the last available space at left. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
New businesses include a branch of Center Parc Credit Union and the second Georgia location of Maepole, a fast-casual restaurant with a focus on seasonal, healthy food. Maepole’s original location is in Athens, and its fully open Atlanta outpost has seating in front and beside the building.
Coming soon in two other spaces are the second location of Aviary Beauty and Wellness (the first is at Studioplex in Old Fourth Ward) and a gift and custom stationary store called Press Shop. Halfway Crooks Beer has also started operating a beer garden in the lot behind the new building, Houchins says.
Maepole's side yard, which constitutes the end of Carter's Summerhill offerings on the north side of the avenue. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Named simply for the neighborhood, Summerhill is Carter’s 80-acre redevelopment of Atlanta’s Olympic Stadium and the formerly hollow blocks around it, where parking for Braves’ games once ruled and everything else struggled to take off.
Including the new building, Georgia Avenue counts a dozen new businesses now, ranging from craft beer purveyors and donut makers to a fine dining restaurant and a full-service salon.
On tap is a speakeasy, arcade bar, taqueria, fried-chicken sandwich joint, and an orthodontist office helmed by Summerhill resident Dr. Brandon Morgan.
Visit the gallery above for recent historical perspective and glimpses at the district’s newest additions—and its potential future.
• First look: In Summerhill, six stories of condos, retail bound for vacant lot (Urbanize Atlanta)
