Renderings: Old Fourth Ward’s $70M mixed-use project has a name: ‘Waldo’s’

Transcendentalism forefather and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s legacy could soon be immortalized in the form of large-scale development in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.

A proposed $70 million mixed-use community, “Waldo’s Old Fourth Ward,” promises residences, retail, office space, and a hotel sited on the neighborhood’s Boulevard corridor, just south of Edgewood Avenue.

Until recently, the Lucror Resources project was being marketed without a name.

Now, officials say the development, the first major construction project planned for the immediate area in at least a decade, endeavors to encapsulate the idea behind a famous Emerson quote: “Insist on yourself: Never imitate.”

(A cancelled JPX Works tower in Buckhead would have also paid homage to Emerson, an influence of Atlanta architect and developer John Portman, but sales weren’t adequate to launch. And down the street, an under-construction Inman Park townhome project is called “Emerson on Krog,” for unspecified reasons.)

Waldo’s, projected to span some 200,000 square feet, is slated to feature an 80-key hotel, 10 townhomes, and about 10,000 square feet of restaurants and retail near the popular neighborhood bar strip.

Thoughtwell is leading the retail and food and beverage leasing for the project.

LoopNet

Project officials from Colliers International, the development’s leasing manager, weren’t ready to share the names of prospective incoming tenants, although the property’s LoopNet profile indicates they’re currently marketing its commercial space.

The six floorplans up for lease range from around 13,000 square feet to nearly 22,000 square feet and are going for $35 per square foot.

Waldo’s is being designed by Atlanta-based tvsdesign, the 50-year-old architecture firm that recently introduced the SpaceLab design and research pop-up office on Auburn Avenue a few block away.

Tvsdesign is anticipated to infuse the development with biophilic design—that is, natural elements and lighting.

Lucror acquired the 1.5-acre Waldo’s site in September and intends to launch construction later this year, according to a previous report by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Lucror is best known as the developer behind the downtown adaptive-reuse project FlatironCity.

• FlatironCity developer plans $70 million mixed-use project [ABC]