ATLANTA — Developer Jamestown has unveiled plans to expand Ponce City Market in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood by 500,000 square feet. Expansion plans for the mixed-use development include a 100,000-square-foot office building, an outdoor courtyard with 38,000 square feet of shopping and dining space, and more than 400 units of a “hospitality living” concept.
Jamestown says the hospitality concept was designed to cater to the way people live and work today, with spaces available for both short-term and long-term leases at accessible price points. Residents will enjoy hotel-like services and amenities, including regular housekeeping and laundry services, a rooftop terrace and pool, and in-building storage units.
The office building will offer tenants customizable floorplates with the option to create private outdoor balconies. The ground floor will house 25,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space with a direct connection to the new courtyard. The four-story building is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and reduce embedded carbon. There will also be bike and scooter parking, designated rideshare drop-off sites, an electric bike share program and electric car charging stations.
The next phase of Ponce City Market will also feature an expansion of the Central Food Hall. Jamestown plans to rework some of the former office and retail space to provide roughly 2,000 square feet of new offerings, including four kiosks and a bar.
Jamestown’s in-house leasing team will work with CBRE to market the new commercial office space for lease. A timeline for construction was not disclosed.
“With this next chapter, we’re looking forward to adding more space for the community to work, eat, shop and enjoy Ponce City Market,” says Matt Bronfman, CEO of Jamestown. “These plans keep sustainability top-of-mind with ample outdoor space, new technologies, green materials and design that draws on the beauty of nature while honoring the history of Ponce City Market.”
Jamestown first opened Ponce City Market in 2014. The adaptive reuse project transformed the historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. building into a live, work and play destination. The project has been credited as the catalyst for revitalizing the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood and links directly to the Atlanta BeltLine biking and walking trail. Today, it is home to 90 businesses.
Ponce City Market is reminiscent of Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, which Jamestown sold to Google in 2018 for $2.4 billion.
Some of the existing office tenants at Ponce City Market include Athenahealth, Cardlytics, Industrious, Cox Enterprises and HowStuffWorks. Email marketing company Mailchimp recently unveiled plans to vacate Ponce City Market for a new 300,000-square-foot headquarters within a nearby project from New City Properties in late 2022.
Metro Atlanta has nearly 6.4 million square feet of office space under construction and is expanding at one of the fastest rates in the country, according to CoStar Group. The third-quarter vacancy rate for Midtown Atlanta was 13.6 percent, compared with 18.3 percent for metro Atlanta.
— Kristin Hiller