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Chris Yonker, the co-founder of the popular Mammal Gallery in South Downtown, has spent the last year and a half getting his proverbial ducks in a row. He and his partners wanted to buy the building where they had scrubbed layers of mold and fixed countless toilets to do what they love: host experimental underground music acts and art exhibitions.Around the time they were able to land on a number to present to their landlord, they heard that a developer was angling to buy buildings across the street. Then they learned the same developer had made an offer on their space. They were outmatched.“It was nearly three times the amount of what we were trying to land on to buy the building,” Yonker says.South Carolina-based developer WRS is inching toward closing its deal with the city to buy Underground Atlanta and redevelop the subterranean shopping mall into a $250 million (and counting) mixed-use complex. But the developer is not just focused on the failed retail, restaurant, and nightlife spot. WRS and other companies are making offers on buildings along Peachtree and South Broad streets. Caught in the middle is a group of artists who hoped they could plant a flag in the area — and in the process, create an organic arts district — before the development machine came along.Mayor Kasim Reed in December 2014 announced that WRS, best known for building Walmarts, would buy the 12-acre site for $26 million. During that time, says WRS’ Kevin Rogers, who’s overseeing the project, the company has conducted due diligence on the complicated site. But it has also started to try to buy properties outside Underground’s footprint. WRS wants to renovate some of the buildings, which he says have “incredible character, most of which has been covered up over the years … We want to bring that back and restore it and then work on what people see at ground level, tenant-wise.”
No value assignedIt’s common for developers to scoop up nearby parcels to use for subsequent projects, taking advantage of the boost their first endeavors helped spark. It also allows them to control their destiny. But some of the buildings WRS and others want to purchase are not sitting vacant — they are currently leased by musicians, theater professionals, and other creatives who have helped build a still-growing arts district that’s breathed life into what five years ago was a moribund remainder of Atlanta’s olden days. They include Mammal, Murmur, Downtown Players Club, the Broad Street Visitors Center, and Eyedrum. One block away is the M. Rich Center, a former department store turned office building that houses C4 Arts Center, Iron Yards coding school, and
Creative Loafing.According to the Goat Farm Arts Center, which has helped some of the groups locate in the South Broad area and renovate the buildings, the group’s program approximately 1,000 events and bring an estimated 90,000 people to the area each year. Mammal draws national acts. C4 teaches artists how to run businesses. DPC has 20 shows lined up between now and November, including electronica acts and a performance art collective traveling from North Carolina. This weekend, the street will be a hub of activity for Elevate. The theme this year, fittingly: gentrification.“You can come down here on pretty much any night of the week and there is something going on,” says Kris Pilcher, co-founder of the Downtown Players Club.Mammal was attracted to the street after Yonker heard about it in 2013 from Kyle Kessler, a South Downtown resident and organizer who works with the Center for Civic Innovation, and Courtney Hammond, then the director of Elevate, the city’s annual arts festival focused on drawing interest in Downtown. Others moved in as part of Beacons, an initiative by the Goat Farm with two main goals: create a progressive arts district in the long-overlooked neighborhood and help arts groups secure leases in vacant buildings, renovate them, and construct spaces that other artists could rent. That revenue could be used to purchase the buildings or protect against rent shocks. If successful, Starbucks or a condo developer would not have to negotiate with Murmur’s landlord — it would have to sit across the table from Murmur. The vision would also loop in existing and new businesses — a dentist, a homeless service provider, and others.As a result of the process, Pilcher says, the groups have helped create a small community. They’ve become friends with the regulars who hang out on the street. They paint awnings and do clean-ups together. When a man who often frequented South Broad died, they created a memorial, Pilcher says.
No value assignedThe arts groups moved to an area surrounded by development forces. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a few blocks away, as is Philips Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks owner wants to build a mixed-use district. Developers are taking an increasing interest in Downtown. The city is seeking developers to purchase the former Atlanta Constitution building near Five Points. Then there’s Underground just down the street. The arts groups knew South Broad would receive more attention — they just didn’t expect it so soon. And they didn’t envision their buildings getting bought before the Underground deal closed.A WRS affiliate has inked a deal with at least one property owner by calling dibs on a suite of properties along South Broad and Peachtree. Some of the parcels include the buildings that the Downtown Player’s Club, Murmur, and the Broad Street Visitors Center, which recently finished its build-out, call home. It’s also made offers to the owner of four parcels occupying the other side of Broad Street, including Mammal’s. Rogers did not respond to
CL’s email asking for confirmation that it wants to purchase the M. Rich Center.Rogers says WRS’ plans are still “in flux” and he’s talked with various people about the South Broad art district plans, including the Goat Farm. He says the company is “very sensitive” and has its “ear to as many and all the various constituencies as possible.”“They’re an important part of that,” Rogers says. “But the plans are not to eliminate them. They’re a vibrant part of that area down there. ... We want that to hold a unique local flavor and you can only do that through the creative class. What shape that takes, because the plans are not fully fleshed out, I don’t know.”WRS’ strategy has sparked unease and uncertainty among the tenants, not just about their spaces but also the future of the arts in Downtown. Booting the arts from South Broad could mean losing Atlanta’s DIY culture and a testing ground for young artists, Pilcher says. Yonker notes that Atlanta’s overall arts community is diffused — some galleries here, a performance venue there — and South Broad could harness culture in one place.“There’s just something about this place that is special,” says Elizabeth Jarrett, DPC’s co-founder. “And it feels like other parts of cities that people love. We just need Atlanta to know it.”Yonker says they will shut down Mammal if WRS buys their building. He doesn’t want the years spent cleaning, repairing, and operating the space, often forgoing pay, to ultimately benefit someone else. Pilcher says he and Jarrett plan to continue operating, considering how much work they’ve already invested in their three-story building. But they are discussing alternative sites if they’re told the building’s new owner has different plans.But the news has also united the community, Yonker, Pilcher, and others say. The groups have reached out to city officials, including Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, and other property developers. Instead of meeting every month, groups are sitting down together every week, with more stakeholders, and discussing strategies to keep the district intact.“It made us rally together and realize that individually, we don’t have a whole lot of power. But when we all come together and plow our resources together, we’re a little bit more of a force to be reckoned with,” Yonker says. “Even still, we’re a tiny wave in this huge monster ocean. But at least there is more of a possibility of us making anything happen.”Yonker says he’d be open to some sort of arrangement where Mammal remains but pays rent toward buying the building. Jarrett wonders if the arts groups and developers could create a partnership. Pilcher would like to see the city create a special district around the area to protect the arts. He’s also encouraged by the news that the Masquerade would be allowed to temporarily relocate to Underground starting in November. Ideally, however, Pilcher would like to see WRS focus on Underground. It’s in their best interest, he says.“We already have a built-in crowd,” Pilcher says. “It’s just growing. It actually makes the entire development easier for them. We’re doing them a favor by
building this neighborhood and doing what we’re doing.”The battle comes at a time when Atlantans, especially people living on low incomes and artists, find themselves with fewer quality places to live and work.“This is evidence that despite people’s best intentions, ingenuity, and creative ambition, the civic sector, social sector, and nonprofits cannot play catch-up with the private sector unless there is support from the local government,” says Chris Appleton, the CEO of Wonderroot, the Reynoldstown arts nonprofit.
No value assignedThe government can play a role. Invest Atlanta CEO Eloisa Klementich says her agency offers some programs that artists could tap for assistance. She confirmed that WRS is seeking incentives to develop Underground (she declined to say how much). Such deals can come with requirements. Reed, who in 2011 said he envisioned an arts complex in Underground, says through a spokeswoman that there is “absolutely” a way for the developer and arts groups to co-exist. “It just has to be a deal that makes economic sense to both sides,” she says.In the meantime, the arts groups will continue rallying. The deals will run their course. And property owners will weigh their options. Richard Miller, the owner of Mammal’s building and two other South Broad properties, started working in his uncle’s shop, Miller’s Rexall Drugs, which he now owns, when he was 12.He is currently weighing a “seven-figure offer” — he declines to say how much — and he’s wrestling with what to do. Miller, whose store has survived the construction of MARTA, the broken promises of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the horrendous Atlanta Falcons game-day traffic, is ready to retire. His wife, who also recently retired, wants to spend more time with him and travel the world. But Miller has also watched what Mammal and others have tried to build and cheered them on.He has seen the highs and lows. And everything Miller sees happening outside his store window is “a convergence of everything I’ve been working for,” he says. “I’ve prepared for the future. Now the future is here. It’s hard to give up what you have enjoyed doing for so long.”