Midtown Place is stuck between a Beltline and a hard place

Midtown Place is in a tight spot. Built in 1999, years before the Atlanta Beltline became a reality, the suburban-style shopping center off Ponce de Leon Avenue has successful tenants and enjoys a prime spot in northeast Atlanta. But it’s a nightmare for bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. Traffic backs up on Ponce and people start doing crazy things to enter the shopping center, which causes transportation officials to install barriers that ultimately create hazards for bicyclists.   

There’s good new and bad news: the owner of the complex that includes Whole Foods, Pet Smart, and smaller shops  is exploring ways for people to get from the Eastside Trail to the center without sidestepping down steep hills or taking roundabout walks. And he wants to improve vehicular access. The bad news: options are limited.

Atlanta-based Coro Realty Advisors bought Sembler’s 256,000 square-foot shopping center during the dark days of the Great Recession. On July 20, CEO John Lundeen told members of the Northwest Community Alliance it was a great deal. The project has performed well for them, he said; when Borders closed its location, a TJ Maxx filled the space relatively quickly.

But he understands that the project’s layout — vehicles and most pedestrians can only get in and out through two entrances on increasingly congested Ponce — is unsuitable.

“Our access into our project is just terrible on Ponce,” he said, during a larger discussion about the city’s street network. “Can’t get into it. Period, the end.”

One way to solve the headache would be to link to Midtown Promenade, the adjacent shopping center that includes Trader Joe’s and Midtown Arts Cinema, and by doing so, Monroe Drive. As it currently stands, the area creates a superblock.

Lundeen told the attendees that Home Depot, which occupies a separate parcel deep in the lot, wants to connect and he thinks Ackerman, the owner of Midtown Promenade, might consider discussing it. Jeff Fuqua, who led the development when he worked for Sembler and now oversees his own development firm, tells CL he recalls Ackerman being open to doing so during early talks.

Lundeen says that connection could be difficult because of an agreement Sembler struck with a coalition of nearby residents who organized as SHAPE — Shaping Historic Atlanta and the Ponce de Leon Environment — when Midtown Place was developed. SHAPE neighbors were concerned about the impact of traffic on residential streets, persistent flooding issues, and how the development would interface with surrounding communities. Doug Abramson, a longtime resident, says the idea of connecting the two shopping centers via 8th Street did come up, but Sembler raised some issues, as did some residents along 8th Street. 

Under the agreement, Sembler agreed that no vehicular access would be permitted between Midtown Place and Midtown Promenade. The deal also prohibited connections to and from the shopping center from nearby communities, a move to prevent the quiet historic neighborhoods from being overrun with cars. The agreement encourages pedestrian access between the two shopping centers. And, it’s worth noting, that the Connect Atlanta plan calls for one day connecting Ponce and Monroe Drive via 8th Street. 

Lundeen, who did not respond to CL’s request for a follow-up talk, said he was working on plans for an access point akin to what one finds on New York’s High Line. Work is ongoing. (Some time ago, Lundeen said, Whole Foods proposed some kind of access that would go directly into the store but he said that wasn’t feasible.) He also noted that ABI has plans for a ramp system near CVS, which Coro does not own. Ericka Davis, Beltline’s director of communications, says ABI hopes to start construction on a ramp, along with streetscape improvements along Ponce between Freedom Parkway and Boulevard, within 12 to 18 months.

Then there’s the question over the future of the development itself. Before its current incarnation, the property was home to a retail center called the Great Mall of China and offices. Before that it was the site of a baseball stadium. Prior to that it had a small lake.

But over the last five years, the unused and overgrown rail line behind it became the Beltline. Former industrial and warehouse sites and parking lots along the multi-billion dollar project have become boxy mid-rise developments that charge top rents to people who are ostensibly willing to pay them. Across the street is Ponce City Market, a mixed-use and adaptive reuse success story. Murder Kroger is being redeveloped into an office tower. The Clermont Hotel is getting an upscale overhaul and going boutique. Fuqua says, based on the market, he would consider redeveloping the property if he still oversaw it. Midtown Place has become an oddity along the Eastside Trail. 

One obstacle to redeveloping, Lundeen said at the NWCA meeting: Coro has long-term leases signed with tenants that could rule out an immediate overhaul.

“I have a lease with Whole Foods, TJ Maxx,” he says. “I know that’s not the urban design. I didn’t design it. But it does very very well. I can’t call them up and say, oh by the way, is it OK if I put a 10-story apartment building up? If you think what was there before, which was a baseball field and at one time, the China outlet mall, it’s pretty dynamic. I know it pays a lot of taxes. It’s a very successful project. It meets the goals of that community... I would like to urbanize it more.”