Faced with pending redevelopment of their current digs, the Empty Stocking Fund has found itself in a real pinch. The nonprofit needs to find a new space and, by the sound of it, they’re looking for their own Santa to swoop in and make that happen.
The Empty Stocking Fund sends gifts to children in poverty around metro Atlanta. For the past three years, they’ve occupied a warehouse space in the old Atlantic Shopping Center at the southern edge of Kirkwood.
Paces Properties told Curbed last week they've bought the shopping center property and will be transforming into another Memorial Drive adaptive-reuse project. While those plans materialize, Paces has granted the Stocking Fund one more year in their current space.
Miranda Hunt, the nonprofit's executive director, said 50,000 metro Atlanta kids have received gifts each year from "Santa's Village," which has operated in Club Esso's old 36,000-square-foot space.
"We’ve been given a huge reprieve with (the developer's) graciousness for this year, but we’re on the hunt to find our forever home, whether it is a gift, partial-gift or purchase (with a capita raise, of course)," Hunt told Curbed. "We’re targeting the Westside right now but are open to other options and are looking at creative ways to use or share our space during the off season ... We’re hoping to open our new forever home to the public in 2017, our 90th anniversary."
The new space for the group would need to be at least 25,000 square feet, and they’re hoping to find something on the Westside. But, the nonprofit only needs the full space for about three months of the year, so they're also looking for another organization to step in and use it for the remaining nine months.
So, if anyone is feeling generous and has a warehouse to gift-out, subsidize or sell, here’s a great opportunity.
- Krog Street Market Developer Buys Massive Piece of Memorial Drive [Curbed Atlanta]