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https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news...-thrive-again/

On a warm spring day just over three years ago, Olaf Kunkat stood at the corner of Mitchell and Forsyth streets in South Downtown. In all directions, he saw barren streets, vacant storefronts, and half-empty parking lots where buildings once stood. “It was all beauty,” he says.

So far, Newport has spent $88 million acquiring property and has started gutting and prepping spaces. With the help of city incentives and historic-building tax credits, Kunkat wants to strip the wood and aluminum facade on a Peachtree nail salon to expose the original brick and stone and has torn out old carpet and drywall in the old Sylvan Hotel to reveal the historic brick walls beneath. Once that’s complete, Kunkat says, Newport will lease “affordable” space to a mix of restaurants, shops, and offices, build housing catering to a mix of incomes, and kick off an experiment to see whether the diverse community that once thrived in South Downtown can do so again. Kunkat believes the demand is there—from Georgia State University students, government workers, and Atlanta United fans, for starters—and will later construct new buildings on barren parking lots for apartments and offices. Throughout the process, the company plans to use different architects to ensure a mix of styles and feels.


Initially, Newport planned to focus on its Peachtree Street storefronts near Underground Atlanta, which has languished since WRS Real Estate bought the subterranean shopping mall from the city in May 2017. But when Newport saw the momentum behind the redevelopment of the historic Norfolk Southern Building, and CIM Group’s plan to build a mini-city in the Gulch, the company shifted its focus to 222 Mitchell, which will once again become offices, and Hotel Row across the street, where restaurants, creative offices, and shops will fill 10 empty spaces. This spring, Darren Carr, the owner of Midtown restaurants Bon Ton and the Lawrence, will launch a flea market along South Broad and plans a hybrid bar and art space.

Newport’s long-range plan includes complementing existing buildings (yellow) with new or expanded buildings (red) that the company will construct on barren parking lots.