A Ponce City Market honcho likened Atlanta's most massive repurposing project to a southern-fried version of Chelsea Market in an interview this week with a New York City real estate news outlet. Michael Phillips, Jamestown Properties chief operating officer, told the Commercial Observer the Old Fourth Ward development will boast similarities to the rehabbed Nabisco factory in Manhattan, which has become a foodie Mecca and emblem of creative adaptive reuse. Makes sense. News trickled earlier this week that the forces behind Atlanta's best restaurant will open a project at Ponce City Market.
At ICSC's RECon global retail real estate summit in Las Vegas, Phillips told the Commercial Observer he's helped create and oversee a portfolio of more than 80 projects — totaling more than 25 million square feet — across nine states. When asked, "What would you say is the Jamestown project that might be sparking the most conversations?" Phillips answered:?
"I think that Ponce City Market in Atlanta is really dynamic. We're getting a lot of interest for this. It's a 2-million-square-foot adaptive reuse basically set to be Chelsea Market in Atlanta. I think that's pretty exciting."
In other market news, Curbed's sister site Eater Atlanta reported this week Bacchanalia's Anne Quatrano will bring a project of some sort — possibly a shop — to Ponce City Market, which plans to open with office, retail and apartments next spring. Eater has confirmed the market will include a larger Dancing Goats Coffee Bar and possibly a Shake Shack or two, among many other tenants.
· Ponce City Market: What You (Probably) Don't Know [Curbed Atlanta]
· Jamestown Properties' Michael Phillips on Feeding Chelsea [Commercial Observer]
· Coming Attractions [Eater Atlanta]