Check. It. Out.

From a Emory Point press release…

Cousins Properties has secured the first U.S. lease for La Tagliatella, a European pasta and pizza restaurant. Founded in Madrid in 2001, La Tagliatella has more than 110 restaurants in Spain and France and chose Atlanta as the first American city to introduce its flavors. Atlanta-based Tin Lizzy’s and Fresh To Order also have signed on to the property to round out the wide variety of eating choices. Additionally, Emory Point will get the fourth location for Jazmin Spa, which has a variety of treatment services.

This development is quickly becoming a reality.  I can’t believe how fast those buildings are going up over on Clifton Road!

Jamestown Properties’ planned renovations to the old Sears warehouse on Ponce de Leon Ave has even got the New York Times all atwitter.  Or at least paying attention.

Early blueprints make Ponce City Market look not unlike Chelsea Market, the renovated biscuit factory that leases space to the Food Network and other technology and media companies. It will contain high-ceilinged office space, a range of restaurants, a food market, apartments, exhibition spaces, a skywalk and perhaps even an amusement park, Jamestown says.

The plan calls for reducing the building’s square footage by nearly half, to 1.2 million square feet, constructing a parking garage with at least 2,000 spaces inside the structure and demolishing many internal walls and ceilings. But Jamestown says it will preserve the exterior and as much equipment as possible from the original Sears department store and distribution center. A giant electrical panel will become the backdrop for a bar, and a train trestle will be repurposed as a pedestrian walkway.

Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention, but the article sure makes it sound like Jamestown knows what it’s doing.  In addition to owning NYC’s Chelsea Market, they’ve dealt with renovations of the former New York Port Authority (which was recently purchased by Google), and a section of Chattanooga called “Warehouse Row“.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Jamestown Properties will put $180 million into the old City Hall East and turn it into Ponce City Market.  According to the ABC…

Early plans call for about 236,500 square feet of retail and 21,250 square feet for restaurants. Developers will also try to lure companies that want loft office space — a rarity in Atlanta. They’d offer 100,000 square feet floor plates and skyline views.

For a bit of context, North DeKalb Mall offers 635,000 square feet of retail, while Lenox Square has 1.5 million square feet.  However, the retail renderings remind me primarily of the Grove Arcade in Asheville, which is actually of similar size in terms of retail at 260,000 square feet.

Sounds like this old Sears and Roebuck building could be pretty dang cool once all is said and done.

A couple more rendering pics HERE.

Many of us agree that Atlanta has its problems.  Heck, we probably wouldn’t have much to talk about if we were as satisfied with Atlanta as many are with Decatur.

And many of those problems revolve around “infrastructure” and a general lack of foresight up at the Capitol.

In a recent article on “Newgeography”, titled “Is It Game Over For Atlanta?“, author Aaron Renn argues that recent declines of “in-migration” expose Atlanta’s short-comings in a post-construction boom era.  And compared to other late 20th century boom-towns like Dallas and Houston, Atlanta’s growth is slowing.  This leads Renn to the conclusion that Atlanta’s life-cycle may be at “maturity”, soon to be out-classed by Dallas and Houston, along with smaller regional up-starts like Charlotte.

But after a couple decades of unprecedented growth, I’m not sure if a population slowdown is such a bad thing.  Such times allow a city to come down from its building euphoria and allows it time to reassess.

So while I agree with Renn that it’s clearly time for Atlanta to decide what sort of city it wants to be in the 21st century, I choose to be more optimistic…probably because I actually live here.  Atlanta’s growth may be slowing, but perhaps its a necessary step to get political leadership to look for a new path of development incentives and infrastructure improvements beyond growing at the fringes.

Thanks to TeeRus and Brad for pointing out this article!

In a recent Atlanta Magazine spread asking “dozens of Atlantans” for advice for new Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Decatur’s Own  Lain Shakespeare and Andisheh Nouraee inadvertently showed the broad spectrum of expectation for Atlanta’s massive BeltLine project.

Mr. Shakespeare has great hope…

Atlanta’s best idea is already at work: the BeltLine. The BeltLine’s potential addresses many of Atlanta’s problems so effectively, there’s no reason not to follow its lead. By focusing on what people need to thrive instead of exclusively on what cars need to thrive, Atlanta will become safer, healthier, and more competitive. Expanded transit, connected neighborhoods, affordable housing, and complete streets will foster denser and more vibrant communities.

Mr. Nouraee?  Eh, not so much…

Admit the BeltLine is a park with a bike path, not a mass transit project.

Hat-tip honors go to Mr. Nouraee

This morning’s AJC asks its readers – and many Atlanta experts – “Are metro Atlanta’s growth days gone?”, and then goes on to document metro Atlanta’s financial struggle in a post-Lehman Brothers world.

I humbly suggest that such a question skirts the real issue at hand in favor of easy observation, and is a lot like unharnessing your horse, moving him to the rear of your cart, and commanding “Push!”.

What exactly is wrong with asking “Has Atlanta’s era of unbridled growth finally ended?”.

Well, to me that’s a lot like looking at your house-flipping uncle, who lost his shirt when the housing bubble burst, and worrying about whether ol’ Uncle Teddy can keep risking the farm and coming out ahead.  It completely misses the real challenge of a suffering metro area or family member, which is “Can Atlanta/Uncle Ted alter its/his behaviors in an era of new realities?”  Can you make the necessary changes or not?

Dang, let’s hope so.  Because gone are the days when Atlanta could make no mistakes – or at least not suffer the consequences of mistakes.  Growth covered up all wrongs. Develop poorly – build the subdivisions far and wide, jam the highways, underfund your transit.  Structure your city budgets under the assumption that growth lasts forever. Because it does, right?

Growth periods are great.  But just like too many Snickers bars or too much folic acid in your diet; too much sustained growth will get anyone into trouble.

And now the day of reckoning is upon us, as it is for many cities.  It’s time for Atlanta’s leaders and residents to man up and show they can run a 21st century city with more limited resources and an uncertain future.  We need to make more thoughtful decisions about growth patterns, cut the fat out of the budget and fund the projects that can prove results.

Thank goodness the era of growth has ended.  I’m not sure we could have handled any more good fortune.