Nine-story mural to be unveiled on Beltline’s Eastside Trail

Just about everywhere you look on Atlanta’s eastside, there’s public art to be found.

On Edgewood Avenue stands a collection of murals by some of the city’s best local artists. Inside Krog Street Tunnel, bikes and Birds whiz by a mishmash of colorful graffiti, some by talented pros, some by unrecognized rookies.

And who can forget the great wall of art spanning from Cabbagetown to Reynoldstown, the work of Forward Warrior, an annual artist initiative?

Next month, another major art piece—perhaps the largest eastside installation of all—is scheduled to be unveiled on the Beltline’s Eastside Trail, at the forthcoming mixed-use community Edge.

Developed by North American Properties, Edge is sited on a soon-to-open southern stretch of the Eastside Trail, a missing segment (unpaved, for now) sandwiched between Edgewood and DeKalb avenues.

NAP officials say the complex will include a nine-story mural—90 feet by 90 feet—created by four female artists.

The new art installation, like Edge’s first residences, is scheduled to debut “just in time for the holidays,” according to a developer press release. We’ve asked for a specific date (and the exact location of the mural) but have yet to hear a response.

What the mural will look like is another mystery. Officials are keeping any preliminary images under wraps to up the surprise factor.

According to NAP, the debut of the mammoth mural is supposed to happen in concert with the ribbon-cutting for the newest leg of the Eastside Trail, sometime in December.

The artist team was led by muralist and painter Lauren Pallotta Stumberg.

“This process has been a true collaboration, from the initial sketches to the final design,” she said in a prepared statement. “The folks at NAP gave us their vision for Edge, and we were free to interpret that through our combined creative lens.”

Edge is ultimately slated to comprise 350 apartments—10 percent of which will be earmarked as workforce housing—and 27,000 square feet of retail, dining, and office space abutting the Beltline.

North American Properties

Signings include the area’s first Shake Shack, Hazel Jane’s Wine & Coffee, and a restaurant and bar by celebrated local chef Kevin Gillespie called Cold Beer.

Another unique design feature: two dozen palm trees, reaching up to two stories tall, surrounding the community’s heated pool for a “tropical oasis” feel, per developers.

Although the first move-ins are expected this winter, the whole project is scheduled to be complete next summer