The greatly anticipated Ponce City Market will do its best to incorporate the nearby (and already bustling) Beltline as part of its overall green mission. In a quick Q&A with the AJC this week, Walter Brown — Jamestown's senior vice president of development and sustainability — said many things about the Ponce project, which will make (mixed) use of the mammoth former City Hall East building with apartments, shops and office space, will be environmentally minded. Along with LEED ambitions, he said the development will strive to maximize its location along the Eastside Trail. "With the Beltline coming right by the building, we are welcoming bicycles and any form of alternative transportation in a big, big way," Brown told the AJC. "We will have a couple of hundred bike spaces. We will have secure bicycle parking (for the residents). We will have lots of electric car charging stations."
Jamestown plans to make the 2 million square-foot, 80-year-old brick structure an LEED Silver certified building in hopes of saving "millions of dollars in energy and water."
The group also has some pretty interesting plans for using underground spring water on the premises: "A lot of people know that Ponce City Market was built over the old Ponce springs," Brown told the AJC. "While the original spring location was lost during the original construction, there is a lot of groundwater in low areas around the building we hope to capture and pump up to our water tank on top of the Sears building." He said there's actually an "original 45,000-gallon" tank tucked away behind the tower facade, and that water will be used to help supply central cooling towers.
The 260 rental units at Ponce City Market will boast "energy efficient stacked washers and dryers" and "energy recovery units" for the ventilation systems. Officials said last month that current plans (and the current market) don't call for any for-purchase condos on the property. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in spring of '14.
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep
· Sustainability is serious business in Atlanta at old Sears building [AJC]
· Condos a No-Go At Ponce City Market [Curbed Atlanta]