Latest phase of East Lake’s emerging downtown lands its coffee shop anchor

A few months after developers announced a shuttered fried chicken restaurant at budding mixed-use development Hosea + 2nd would be replaced with a new Korean food concept, another key tenant has inked a lease at the formerly rundown East Lake site.

The development team—a partnership of Mike Nelson and Clay Harper, owners of Fellini’s Pizza and La Fonda Latina, as well as Jay Martin and Nathan Bolster of ReDevStudio—is gearing up to welcome Perc Coffee Roasters to newly finished retail space at the site's northeast corner.

The coffee shop will join Salaryman—the Korean spot that replaced Mary Hoopa's—Greater Good BBQ, Mix’D Up Burgers, Poor Hendrix, and the Cameo Salon.

Perc, which developers are calling “the anchor coffee shop and eatery on the northeast corner,” will take 1,700 square feet beneath office space occupied by Purpose Built Communities, a consulting organization focused on combating poverty by helping create mixed-income housing, educational opportunities, and other wellness initiatives.

The news means nearly three blocks have been filled at the corner of Hosea Williams Drive and 2nd Avenue, near where East Lake, Oakhurst, and Kirkwood converge.

“The development is moving along with only one space left (the corner space on the ground floor),” Bolster told Curbed Atlanta, referring to the space facing the corner of Hosea Williams and 2nd.

“We’re talking to a number of operators for this space, but since it’s the anchor of the corner, we’re being selective about what the concept is and what experience the operator has,” he added.

The last undeveloped corner of the intersection, the southwestern section, is undergoing a Site Plan Amendment with the City of Atlanta “and will likely be approved for 16 townhomes built by an outside developer,” Bolster said.