Photos: Atlanta Dairies set to open latest piece on Memorial Drive this fall

Slowly but surely, Reynoldstown’s Atlanta Dairies mixed-use community is coming alive.

First announced in 2015, the Paces Properties development is now buzzing with apartment tenants, coffee shop patrons, and construction equipment.

And next month, a diner concept by the proprietors of Midtown restaurants The Lawrence and Bon Ton is slated to debut at a prominent space fronting ever-busy Memorial Drive.

Restaurant group Big Citizen is calling its latest creation “Wonderkid,” and it’s expected to bring modern twists to the traditional diner model.

“We never wanted this to be a greasy spoon with chrome everywhere,” said Big Citizen cofounder Eric Simkins, during a recent tour of the under-construction restaurant.

Instead, Wonderkid will feature what cofounder Darren Carr calls “’60s and ’70s California coloring,” as well as craft cocktails and King of Pops ice cream.

You read that right: King of Pops, the celebrated popsicle slinger, will claim a corner of the space for a soft-serve station.

Wonderkid will be broken up into five sections: On the Memorial Drive side, booths will line the walls in traditional diner fashion; there will be outdoor seating on the loading dock that leads to the Coffeehouse and Cold Brew Bar; a living room-type area with vintage couches will go by the front door; and the ice cream corner will separate it all from a rainbow dining area that Carr says will create something of a “sensory overload.”

The diner is expected to be open until 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends.

Also at the Atlanta Dairies site, Three Taverns Imaginarium brewery is under construction, and developers ground just broke on the music venue, which will be suited for more than 2,000 concertgoers and feature a rooftop hangout.

In April, Paces Properties CEO David Cochran told Curbed that all the other retail, restaurant, and office spaces at Atlanta Dairies would be filled and operational by mid-2020.