A couple of years ago, Westside Paper was a ghost town. That's despite its upscale adaptive-reuse offices, trendy West Midtown location, and retail lineup that included familiar names like Pancake Social, Dumpling Factory, and King of Pops. Not a single office lease had been signed in the year after its debut. 

Property ownership decided to adjust their target from traditional office users to larger-format retail tenants, with a specific emphasis on wellness, showroom, and other commercial users. 

That tactic continues to pay off for the “landmark” project, which is now 80 percent leased, officials said this week. 

Westside Paper has recently inked 70,000 square feet of new leases at the 15-acre district, adding to a total of 180,000 square feet leased over the past 20 months.  

According to developers and owners FCP and Westbridge, those results make Westside Paper one of Atlanta’s top adaptive-reuse success stories as companies continue to hone post-pandemic workplace strategies. 

The latest leases include: Packsize (33,000 square feet), a company specializing in sustainable packaging automation; Disguise (10,000 square feet), a technology firm powering major live experiences worldwide; Luxe Redux Bridal (3,000 square feet), a specialty retailer entering the submarket; and Construction Resources (23,000 square feet), adding to its existing 50,000-square-foot showroom at Westside Paper, which opened in June. 

As seen in 2023, the property's future Beltline spur frontage (below) with evolving Atlanta skylines in the distance.Urbanize Atlanta; 2023

How the new Westside Paper Spur Trail passes behind the mixed-use district (at left) of the same name today, with QTS' expanded data center at right.Contributed photo

Adjacent to a connective Atlanta Beltline spur trail opened a year and ½ ago, Westside Paper remade a 70-year-old warehouse on the eastern fringes of the Howell Station neighborhood into 220,000 square feet of total space. It continued the adaptive-reuse trend west of Midtown started in the nineties with King Plow—located across the street—and pushed forward by projects such as Westside Provisions District and more recently The Works.

“Leasing 70,000 square feet in this environment sends a clear signal about where demand is flowing,” said Westbridge’s Chris Faussemagne in an announcement. “Companies are prioritizing well-located, wellness-focused, character-rich buildings that offer access to talent, amenities and Beltline trail access. Westside Paper checks those boxes.” 

Officials noted that Packsize’s 33,000-square-foot deal marks one of the larger new office leases this year in what’s considered West Midtown. For Construction Resources, the additional space will serve as headquarters for the company, which is owned by Home Depot. The Luxe Redux Bridal addition will expand Westside Paper’s ground-floor retail mix. 

Other Westside Paper tenants include Carbon Performance, a Nashville-based boutique fitness brand that occupies a 33,500-square-foot wellness facility—and frequently uses the Beltline spur trail for workouts.  

As seen in September 2023, how the taller Westside Paper office component stands over retail corridors.

Elsewhere is a 13,000-square-foot event venue called The Dogwood by Atlanta’s largest caterer, Proof of the Pudding; and a 24,500-square-foot “luxury indoor padel tennis club” by Brooklyn-based Padel Haus, which project reps have called the first of its kind in Atlanta.

The property currently includes 632 parking spaces. But a section of that might be a placeholder, in that it could be replaced with hundreds of apartments in a future Westside Paper phase, as plans filed with the city in 2022 indicate.

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