Krog Street Market has officially sold to Charlotte-based investors

New owner promises “capital enhancements” at popular Inman Park destination

By Josh Green@JoshGreen1234 Apr 16, 2018, 11:56am EDT

A photo of the pioneering food hall’s main entrance. — The pioneering food hall’s main entrance.

Charlotte-based real estate investors have closed the deal on two game-changing, adaptive-reuse properties that have come to symbolize Atlanta’s intown revival.

Asana Partners has acquired Krog Street Market and its Inman Park counterpart Atlanta Stove Works from longstanding Atlanta developer Paces Properties, officials announced in a press release.

Adjacent to the Beltline’s latest Eastside Trail extension, Krog Street Market debuted in 2014 and has since been lauded as one of America’s best food halls by publications such as Travel + Leisure.

In the press release, Asana officials pledge to “invest capital to enhance the properties, building on their appeal as central gathering places along the Beltline.”

The acquisition includes food-and-beverage hotspots Superica, Ticonderoga Club, and Rathbun’s, plus The Merchant and The Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, among many others.

“[The purchase] fits our strategy of investing in urban shopping and dining locations that are closely connected to their surrounding neighborhoods,” said Brian Purcell, Asana Partners managing director, in the release.

When Curbed Atlanta broke news of the pending sale in September, Paces Properties officials said their intentions in offloading Krog Street Market is to recapitalize funds following the project’s success.

Private equity firms, Paces principal Merritt Lancaster noted at the time, commonly reshuffle portfolios every few years.

Elsewhere in Atlanta, Asana owns Glenwood Park retail and, as of last year, the Poncey-Highland landmark shopping center Plaza on Ponce.

The sales price wasn’t disclosed, but by most indications, Paces had a good run with a destination—despite a smattering of retail closings—that’s become wildly popular with pedestrians and visitors from the ’burbs and far beyond.

And to think ... the property may have never happened without pithy advice from acclaimed local chef Kevin Rathbun.

During a construction tour in 2013, David Cochran, Paces Properties president, said the company was planning to raze the old buildings on site and build apartments. Cochran’s outlook changed when Rathbun, whose restaurant and bar overlook Krog Street Market, sat him down and enlightened him to the property’s repurposing potential.

Paces has since become one of Atlanta’s adaptive-reuse frontrunners, with a portfolio that includes downtown’s The Office apartments, Grant Park’s The Larkin, and the forthcoming Atlanta Dairies.

Below is a photo roundup of Krog Street Market from the 2013 tour that illustrates how much the property has changed in five years: