Masquerade readies to open at Underground Atlanta with no plans for another location

A future home on the Westside is no longer in the cards, following resolution of lawsuit

By Michael Kahn Nov 8, 2016, 10:15am EST

The entrance to Kenny’s Alley, the Masquerade’s new location.

The Masquerade will be opening in downtown’s Underground Atlanta later this month, ushering in a new era for a beloved music venue that stood for decades on North Avenue in Old Fourth Ward.

According to the venue’s website, performances will still take place at the old Excelsior Mill through Nov. 13, with the “new spaces ... coming along nicely” downtown.

Displaced by development along the Beltline, the club had been planning to move to a converted warehouse complex on the Westside. However, plans were delayed when developer Brock Homes, building a single-family neighborhood next door, filed a lawsuit; the homebuilder was alarmed by the potential noise and traffic The Masquerade could bring.

With time running out for a move, and the Westside location in limbo, it came to light that The Masquerade had quietly filed for permits to convert three spaces in Underground Atlanta to accommodate the venue temporarily.

Now, the AJC is reporting that Masquerade’s move may be more than temporary, with no current exit strategy from Underground Atlanta. As part of a settlement to drop the lawsuit, the club has agreed to not pursue its Westside location.

This means that seemingly, for the foreseeable future, the “temporary” Underground Atlanta location is pretty permanent.

For music fans worried the venue might never find a new home, but instead remain trapped in purgatory, the news should be heavenly. Hell, this development could even help spur more interest in the revitalization of Underground.

Representatives for The Masquerade had no additional comment for Curbed Atlanta this week regarding any potential relocations.

Meanwhile, at the O4W location, construction is progressing quickly on 228 apartments behind the old mill building, which will be converted into a food hall.

Hopefully future diners and shoppers will recall the multitude of music icons — OutKast, Rage Against the Machine, Coldplay, Radiohead, and Nirvana, to name but a few — who once shook those very walls.