The announcement of Birmingham-based Mamanoes leasing space in the vintage one story building at the northeast corner of 10th and Peachtree Streets is reinforcement of what owner John Dewberry has been saying for years: we’ll develop when we’re good and ready. Unless we didn’t get the memo that Mamanoes is actually a pop up shop, that could be a while from now. The future bodega building has served as a sports bar, a bizarro late night diner, and most recently the location of the short lived “Dewberry Market”; if you were around to experience Midtown’s Peachtree Strip during the hippie era you may recall the trippy Jesus mural that once graced the intersection. If you don’t, we can probably guess why...
Even though our plea would no doubt be in vain, the four acre site seems perfectly suited for one of our “Please Build Here” pieces. Let’s face it - Midtown is one of the premier urban districts in the Southeast, and tracts like these don’t come along every day. In fact, Dewberry’s been floating around his plans for the site for a least a decade now; “Midtown Square” could one day consist of offices, condos, and key Midtown Mile retail space. Dewberry’s reluctance to move forward has supposedly irked even the poised professionals at the Midtown Alliance. The reality is that even though the situation for office space is improving, and most of the excess condos have been absorbed/repurposed as rentals, and the retail strategy could easily be switched to restaurant space, things still seem shaky for such a massive undertaking. Patience is a virtue, as well as a great way to avoid overbuilding. Not to mention you can never have too many places for beer runs.
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