Bloglanta

What happens when malls outlive their usefulness or the community around them shifts?  What becomes a retail box rejected?

2 cases provide an interesting case in point.  Lindbergh Plaza and North Dekalb Mall.  Both projects were built in the 1960s and have suffered in recent years.  Both were supposed to get a boost with serious redevelopment and a shift in area demographics.  The process seems underway for North Dekalb, but what of Lindbergh Plaza?

Lindbergh Plaza was once the home to a wide variety of stores including K-Mart, but has fallen on tough times.  Several French restaurants, movie houses, clubs, and prominent retailers filled its spaces.  Bennie’s Shoes, a community institution, was there for 20 years but has since moved.  The current shopping center has supposed to be replaced with a combination of retail, office space, and housing, but construction and plans are yet to materialize.

North Dekalb Mall seems more likely to get moving.  It was recently sold by Canadian owners to folks who live in Dekalb and, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, they plan to make the kind of changes slated for Lindbergh as well.  Signs (literally) are in evidence of the changes. 
The signs are coming down.  The construction equipment is moving in.  Hendon properties is making the pitch for building a viable community by re-using the mall.

What is stopping this from happening at Lindbergh?  Surely North Dekalb Mall is the bigger gamble.  Surely access to the Lindbergh Marta Station, the Buckhead Area and the demand for a short commute from Bell South workers makes this an easy redevelopment.

Meanwhile it all sits idle.  Not pretty.

Did you know Atlanta has 105 theatres? 105! That’s a lot!- though it’s companies, not venues.

Clint Johnson compiled the list and wrote about it on the Atlanta Theatre Mailing List. You can get a copy with a $5 donation to the Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts. The tragedy here is that the geographic nature of Atlanta means harnessing the power of all that talent is difficult. Atlanta would have been a stronger arts community all along if there had been a central theater district.

Right now we have three small districts. The Woodruff Arts Center controls the arts from 16th to 14th street. At one time, the Academy and Theatrical outfit were all in walking distance, but no longer. The 14th street playhouse is a great venue with several companies leasing space, but if each had their own, the district would be stronger. Only The Centre for Puppetry Arts and Whole World controls their own space without Woodruff oversight.

Another district is in Little 5 Points. 7 Stages, Horizon, and Dad’s Garage are all near, along with Laughing Matters and others performing at Manuel’s Tavern. This is where the new work gets done well and affordably. Still, more theaters would help and it’s a hike from Dad’s to the others.

Lastly there is a bit of a theater district in Marietta and while they do nice work out there, that’s likely a job for a more marietta oriented blog.

Even with these three concentrations, we’re still looking at less than 20% of all theatres. Imagine if many of the theatres currently renting space could get their own spaces in midtown on Cresent or Juniper. Image if we could follow the lead of Theatrical Outfit and create a downtown district in Fairlie-Poplar! We’d have something special.

How would it help? Imagine the increased traffic in ticket sales from Atlantix alone! Right now, there is one booth at Underground and they sell some tickets. Another one might be coming to Buckhead, but several theaters rarely sell out their Atlantix allotment. If there were a major theater district with a dozen theaters, those theaters would reap the benefits from walk up sales and tourist awareness! It would also spawn theater related restaurants and businesses. There is nothing wrong with local theater. It’s a great entree into the genre, but having a true vibrant district makes the trip there special, and that makes the city better.

Manuel Maloof  has died.  He was the CEO of Dekalb County and was essential in helping to build modern Dekalb.  We need more like him.  Manuel was a tough progressive.  He was tough in politics so he could be open to making the changes that needed making.  He sought business for the county, worked to bring in MARTA, reached out to make the government look for like the county, and tried to run a tight ship.  Many people see him as one of the most successful CEOs ever.

Vernon Jones could take a page about Maloof’s book.  Times are tough and needs are great.  Overhaul County government.  Make it run more economically and use the savings to keep the budget in check and address our most needy priorities.  Make the deals you need to make but make them in the open and defend them.  Help the police and fire departments get the equipment they believe they need.  In return, ask of them that they be as responsive to the community as possible.  Keep up the developement of park lands and preservation and make sure no one can say “but his friends are making a killing!”  Spin off non government functions and keep your promises.

Lastly, when Mr. Jones retires, he could do worse than to buy a bar.  Want a Georgia Institution?  It is Manuel’s.

How Our Restaurants Define Us

Which restaurants are necessary for the locals?  Which for the Tourists?  Are there restaurants that are so important that they help draw people to Atlanta?  With the plan to save Paschal’s these questions have come to the for.  Every city has restaurants that help give it identity.  Could you imagine L.A. without Spaggo?  Chicago without Ed Debevic’s?  New York without the Carnegie Deli?

I think there are restaurants which are their own positive externalities.  In other words, even if you never eat there, your experience of Atlanta is enhanced because a given restaurant is there.

Perhaps the clearest example has to be TheVarsity.  Even if you’re vegan and never eat there, you should be glad it’s around.  It’s a cheap place to eat for college students, a place for Coca Cola and Bell South executives to slum, and sits on North Ave., one of Atlanta’s traditional lines of racial demarcation.  As the world’s largest drive in, it’s a tourist destination for aficianados of the 50s and 60s car culture.  It’s also a defining element of Atlanta.  For those who say that there is absolutely nothing Southern in Atlanta, this is at least on piece that makes it clear that Atlanta is the king of southern cities.

Mary Macs may also be such a place.  The Buckhead equivalent may be the The Buckhead Diner.  Each one of these places is part of the local fabric of the community and draws tourists as well.  They are institutions which help support the neighborhood.

So, how do we preserve these institutions and keep them in good shape?  Should there be a preservation arm of the Georgia Restaurant Council?  Does government have a role here or should we let a restaurant that can’t make it just die off, even if it’s a defining part of the community?

Recently, Creative Loafing declared the Apparel Mart as one of the City’s worst eyesores.  I completely disagree.

Yes, it’s huge.  Yes, the public cannot see in and it’s not a friendly retail environment, but in this case, That’s The Point!

The Apparel Mart and the other marts are expressly NOT retail, they are wholesale.  Form follows function.  They are not for the public! They are for the buyers of stores.  Access is highly limited!  However, the Marts themselves do have pedestrian friendly access from Peachtree Street, MARTA, and the downtown hotels.  Further, if you’ve actually ever been past security and inside the crescent atrium, you know it’s very beautiful indeed.  Like a bottle of wine, the good stuff is on the inside, not the outside. John Portman has added design elements that are elegant and keep the block from being a cube.  The stair cases, bridges, and other elements all contribute to making the building more visually interesting.

Another complaint is that there are blocks of loading docks.  This is seen as unfriendly to pedestrians.  However, there are not a lot of Williams street pedestrians.  For large shows, hundreds of vehicles are all trying to simultaneously unload.  Having large sections of loading docks makes it possible to unload scores of trucks simultaneously, rather than shutting down Williams street.

The Marts are a vital part of downtown.  They draw hundreds of thousands of conventioneers each year, and because there is a lot of installation work, they also keep local workers busy.  The location is right, the building is cool, and it uses its visual language to indicate its purpose.  Sorry CL, you missed this one.