Pullman Yard transformation delayed as city aims for historic status

The transformation of the old Pullman Yard complex into a media-hub-meets-mixed-use complex will have to wait until 2018.

According to Decaturish, the Atlanta City Council has extended a moratorium on issuing permits for the site in order to push through the creation of a landmark district. The action was made to allow for city preservationists and the property owner to complete the planning for the site, which will ensure preservation of its historic integrity.

Word around the campfire is that the property’s redevelopment is still in design phases anyway and that no structures with historic value will be brought down regardless.

The Pullman property, which was first developed in 1904 as a sugar and fertilizer processing plant and later used by the Pullman Passenger Rail Company, was sold back in June to California-based media group Atomic Entertainment.

In addition to studios and performance spaces, the arts-and-entertainment district is also slated to possibly include affordable-housing in the form of short-term rentals geared toward people in the movie and film industry, other residences, retail options (emphasis on restaurants and bars), and offices.

While a delay of a few months means the site will sit idle (ongoing TV and film shoots notwithstanding) until early next year, the wait for redevelopment has been much longer.

Aside from being used as a film backdrop, the Pratt Pullman complex had largely been left to rot since being purchased by the Georgia Building Authority in 1990.

Expect to see the transformation bring a new round of development to Kirkwood once it begins. In the meantime, a groundswell of townhomes is under construction at projects to the south, west, and east of the Pullman complex.

• Atlanta extends moratorium on developing Pullman Yard site [Decaturish]
• Pullman Yard now officially belongs to Atomic Entertainment [Curbed Atlanta]