Ponce City Market has breathed new life into the historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. building in Atlanta.
Timeline
A retired physician named the location based on his assertion that the spring water cured illness. Soon after, a horse car trolley began making daily trips to the area from downtown and the valley surrounding the springs became a park utilized for rest and rejuvenation.
The pastoral gardens and springs were converted into an amusement park that became one of the most popular destinations in the city. The park was beside Ponce de Leon lake, located where the Home Depot is today. Visitors to the amusement park dubbed it “the Coney Island of Atlanta.”
The lake across from the Ponce Park Springs was drained, filled in and converted into a ballpark and bleachers that housed the minor league Atlanta Crackers team until their move in 1965 to Atlanta Stadium. The stadium also hosted the Black Crackers from 1919 to 1952.
Sears, Roebuck & Co of Chicago purchased 16 acres of land on Ponce de Leon Avenue for construction of a retail store and warehouse distribution center for the Southeastern US. The site was bounded by Ponce on the north, Glen Iris Dr on the west, North Avenue on the south and the Southern Railway on the east.
As Atlanta’s metropolitan area spread, many distribution centers relocated to suburban sites and the building’s role as a warehouse diminished. Sears closed in 1989. In 1991, under Mayor Maynard Jackson, the City of Atlanta purchased the building from Sears and converted it into a center for city offices, renaming it City Hall East.
After nearly two decades and at only approximately 10% occupancy, the City determined that they should sell City Hall East. Recognizing the potential in this historic structure at the nexus of four established neighborhoods and on the future Atlanta BeltLine transit corridor, Jamestown inked a deal to purchase the building.
Jamestown embarks on a restoration of the structure honoring its history. The mixed-use plans and adjacency to the BeltLine evokes the historic relationship that the area has with transit, entertainment, retail and business that stems back over a century.
Dancing Goats Coffee Shop opens as Ponce City Market’s first tenant in the summer of 2012. Bringing their unique coffee blends and tasty food pairings, Dancing Goats instantly serves as a hub for the community.
Suzuki School, Binders, The Flats leasing office, Ponce Gallery, General Assembly, athenahealth, and more kick-off the first wave of rolling openings that will ultimately lead to a fully open Ponce City Market.
Shops, the Central Food Hall, and BeltLine access open, welcoming neighbors and friends to come experience Ponce City Market.
Ponce new and old
Late-1800s Atlantans flocked to the gardens and springs, which were expanded in the early 20th-century to include a dazzling amusement park. Through the 1980s, the draw was the eight-story hub of tools, clothes and housewares—the South’s train-stop headquarters for Sears, Roebuck & Co. Imagine that. Thousands of square-feet of former warehouse and showroom floors—now home to Ponce City Market—once overlooked the grandstands and the baseball diamond of the home-run hitting Atlanta Crackers and Black Crackers, predecessors to the Atlanta Braves.
