Downtown’s Underground Atlanta set to welcome two more (temporary) tenants

It may not be visible construction, but at least some activity is happening at downtown’s Underground Atlanta.

On Wednesday, representatives for WRS, the company spearheading redevelopment of the aging retail district, announced that Underground will be welcoming two new arts and culture-focused tenants.

At the corner of Pryor and Alabama streets, a pop-up art gallery called FreeMarket is setting up shop in what developers call Block Three.

Additionally, Southwest Atlanta arts center The Bakery is bringing a “short-term immersive experience” to the site’s Block One, where the trendy YOTEL hotel is expected to break ground next year and open in fall 2022.

The pop-up gallery is scheduled to showcase its inaugural exhibition, In This Moment, through December 13; and The Bakery, slated to transform a 10,000-square-foot former retail space into “a progressive and immersive art experience” is eyeing a February opening, according to a WRS announcement.

A WRS representative also tells Curbed Atlanta that more longterm tenants could be announced in coming weeks, and that officials will have a clearer picture of who’s going where after Thanksgiving.

Last month, WRS spokespeople said cranes could begin ascending over three of the four blocks at Underground between spring and late 2020.

Expect a workforce housing complex, dubbed “The Avery,” to rise at Block Three, a 3-acre site where Central and Alabama streets meet.

Elsewhere around the site, the developer has plans for an LGBTQ+-friendly dance club and cabaret called Future, a grocery store, and possibly a movie theater.

Meanwhile, a reincarnated Masquerade music complex operates at Underground, after having been pushed from its longtime Old Fourth Ward location by redevelopment in 2016.