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INSIDE Ansley Park Tour of Homes P21 Decatur Book Festival P18 SEPTEMBER 2026 ■ ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Featuring Luxury Properties by Ken Covers 1 78 0 ME RTON RD | $ 2,5 9 5 ,0 0 0

5 BE DROOMS | 5 BATHROOMS | 6, 535 S QF T

4 B ED RO O M S | 5 .5 BAT H ROOMS | 6 ,85 8 SQ F T

CO UN NT DE RA R CT

N O EW N T DO O UB MA LE RK LO ET T

9 37 BE RKSH I RE RD N E | $5,95 0,000 or $ 2 7, 000/m on . L EAS E

1 61 0 W E ST SU SSE X | $3,89 5 ,0 0 0

6 BE DRO O M S | 6 FULL BATHS | 3 HALF BAT HS | 8 , 690 S QF T

5 B ED RO O MS | 5 .5 BAT H ROOMS | 5 ,0 7 3 SQ F T

N M EW AR T KE O T

17 70 MERTON RD N E | $4 ,995, 000

827 H I GH L AN D TERRACE N E | $1,695 , 000

1 929 LE NOX ROAD NE | $ 2,20 0 ,0 0 0

4 BE DRO O MS | 4 BATHROOMS | 3,968 S QF T

6 B EDROOMS | 5 BAT H ROOMS | 5 ,6 31 SQ F T

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Contents SEPTEMBER 2026

Atlanta Intown A

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Collin Kelley Executive Editor

Rough Draft Atlanta

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Community New Hospital Midtown Green News Briefs Data Centers Jail Plans New MARTA CEO Ponce Redevelopment Buckhead Greenspace

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Sustainability Above the Waterline

Arts & Entertainment Decatur Book Festival Out On Film Remembering Dolly

18 19 19

Special Sections Ansley Park Tour of Homes Focus on Education

S1-S12 34- 42

Dining Waffle House Tacos Fox Arcade Lounge Hal’s Steakhouse Sozou PCM Food Hall Additions

44 44 45 46 46

Real Estate South Downtown Shifts Focus

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Editorial

Contributors Amanda Andrews, Sally Bethea, Melody Harclerode, Sam Sachs, Ty Tagami

Editor’s Note

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About the Cover Students and parents from around the city attended the Atlanta Public Schools’ Back To School Bash at the Georgia World Congress Center. Students received backpacks and other essentials to start the new school year. (Photo courtesy APS)

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SEPTEMBER 2026 |

EDITOR'S NOTE I will always love Dolly Parton Dolly Parton’s death was a gut-punch. I was a lifelong fan, discovering her old 1970s television variety show when I was 5 years old. I was so obsessed that my parents bought me the Dolly doll that was released in 1976 when I found it at a KB Toy Store (remember them?!) in the mall. When I posted that story on my social media, a number of my followers praised my mom and dad for buying me a doll when so many parents of that era would have shoved a GI Joe action figure in their sons’ hands and told them that “Dolly was for girls.” My parents were open-minded (partly because my Uncle Terry - my mom’s beloved brother – was gay) and also music lovers, but with very different tastes. Dolly was one of the artists we could all agree on. I think the world felt that way. The outpouring of grief and social media tributes from all corners of the globe was indicative of the goodwill and

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Your Neighborhood Experts with Global Connections

their family's income. Through the Dollywood Foundation, Parton supported education, scholarships, and families recovering from disasters. She also made major personal gifts to medical research, including funding research that led to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Her sister, Stella, said on social media that Dolly allowed her doctors to try experimental drugs to treat her cancer for research purposes. But, of course, it’s Dolly’s music and movies that will be her lasting legacy. I still have my old 45s and cassette tapes of Dolly’s singles and albums. And I have very distinct memories of going to see “9 to 5” on its opening weekend (with everyone singing along to Dolly’s theme song) and crying my eyes out at “Steel Magnolias.” In 2002, Dolly played an intimate show at Center Stage Theatre in Midtown, and it was a thrill to be so close to her while she sang all the hits. When it was time for “Jolene,” she changed the name of the song to “Drag Queen” and had local queens on stage with her. We are living through a particularly dark time, with the nonsense coming from Washington, D.C., the ongoing wars, the economy, the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Dolly was an antidote to that darkness. Her empathy, positivity, and embrace of all kinds of people were a counterbalance to the politicians and policymakers who try to divide us. As a cancer survivor myself, I am awed that she was able to keep making appearances in person and My Dolly Parton doll from 1976. on social media. Always with a smile, always with joy she brought to folks. hope even as she must have been exhausted Dolly was a light in the darkness for and in pain. That selflessness is a lesson for so many people. She was a true Christian, us all. not a Sunday-morning Bible-verse cherryDolly famously joked about her picker who judged others. Dolly was a appearance, often repeating the line, “It strong, outspoken ally to the LGBTQ+ costs a lot of money to look this cheap.” community, which endeared her to me The truth is that behind that sassy persona even more. was a woman who believed in the basic In 1995, Dolly created her nonprofit goodness of people. She didn’t make Imagination Library, initially sending a spectacle of her generosity, ask for free books to children in her native buildings to be named after her, or play Sevier County in Tennessee. What began favorites. Dolly said when she saw a need, as a hometown gesture grew into an she immediately wanted to help, and she international literacy program that now did. sends millions of books each month to May we all be more like Dolly. children from birth to age 5, regardless of

COMMUNITY Morehouse, Atrium Health to open new teaching hospital capital and clinical investment to bring a Level III trauma center to Southwest Atlanta. The new hospital will open with 50 beds with the ability to expand to more than 700 over time as community needs grow. It will deliver comprehensive acute-care, including A rendering of the new hospital planned for around-theMetropolitan Parkway. (Courtesy City of Atlanta) clock emergency and Level III By Collin Kelley trauma care, obstetrics and a neonatal intensive care unit, adult critical care, Morehouse School of Medicine and advanced imaging, cardiac catheterization, Atrium Health have received approval interventional radiology and endoscopy. to open a new teaching hospital at 675 Plans for the broader campus include Metropolitan Parkway SW, which will medical offices, research and additional include a network of primary, urgent, and development that can support both specialty care. healthcare and economic activity in the According to a press release from surrounding corridor, according to the the City of Atlanta, Atrium Health is press release. committing more than $700 million in

The hospital is intended to function as the clinical anchor of a much larger network — connecting patients with primary care, specialists, diagnostics, urgent care, hospital services and academic medicine across a coordinated system. Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement that since Atlanta Medical Center and Atlanta Medical Center South closed in 2022, communities in this part of the city have lived with a significant gap in access to hospital and emergency care. “When the Atlanta Medical Center closures were abruptly announced nearly four years ago, I said they left an open wound in the heart of our communities. Today, we have come full circle. Morehouse School of Medicine and Atrium Health will not only help heal that wound but expand primary and community-based care in neighborhoods where access is needed most,” Dickens said.“This moment also reflects the promise of our Neighborhood

Reinvestment Initiative: bringing meaningful investment and opportunity to communities that have gone without for too long. This is the Group Project at its best, and our Administration is grateful to every partner who locked arms to close a healthcare gap that has affected lives across South and West Atlanta.” The City of Atlanta is expected to invest more than $115 million in the project to support site preparation, roadway and pedestrian improvements, and equipment associated with opening the acute-care campus. Plans remain contingent on agreements with Fulton County regarding support to Morehouse Medicine for the ambulatory network across South Fulton. The organizations will continue meeting with residents, community organizations, elected officials, and healthcare providers as planning progresses, according to the press release.

New Midtown Green park opens this month on 14th Street

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A rendering of the completed Midtown Green. (Courtesy Midtown Alliance)

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Midtown Atlanta’s newest greenspace will open to the public and begin hosting events in September. According to an update from Midtown Alliance, improvements at the 98 14th Street property, called Midtown Green, include installation of a storm drainage system and regrading and leveling the site to create an open multi-use lawn and walking paths around the perimeter. Midtown Alliance said in an Aug. 13 social media post that public events at the park will begin in September, including film screenings, lunch from food trucks accompanied by live music and lawn games, and the Midtown Artisans Market. You can see the full lineup of events and activities at midtownatl.com.

Space for bike and scooter parking will be located in the southeast corner of the site along 14th Street. Formerly planned to be the site of the No. 2 Opus Place luxury condo tower, the old sales center building on the western edge of the property is being converted into the new headquarters for Midtown Alliance’s public safety and maintenance teams. Signage is being planned for installation on the facade of the building, along with space for large-scale public art. Giant letters spelling out MIDTOWN will also be a focal point of the park. Long-term plans for the park include a pavilion and performance venue, a restaurant and café, and a community building with public restrooms.

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News RoundUp Ramon Harris, 29, (pictured) was fatally stabbed during a dispute on the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail near the Kroger on Aug. 23. The suspect – Justin Hamby, 54 – had 30 prior arrests and a history of mental illness, according to his family. Mayor Andre Dickens ordered a review of the safety protocols, including patrols, camera coverage and emergency response.

Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. Text DRAFT to 66866. The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered Emory University to conduct a “research security audit” examining its academic, financial and research ties to foreign entities of concern. Emory is one of 30 U.S. universities directed to complete the reviews.

A year-long effort to have Peachtree Circle in Ansley Park designated as a city historic district was put on hold by the Atlanta City Council Zoning Committee at its Aug. 24 meeting. Councilman Alex Wan said he would reintroduce the legislation to the cull council if proponents of the historic district for Peachtree Circle gained “a supermajority of support” by Sept. 8. Check roughdraftatlanta.news for updates.

The Atlanta City Council voted Aug. 17 to approve an ordinance to appropriate $1.3 billion in revenue bonds for funding capital projects and environmental protections at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Council stalls data center task force as mayor plans strategy group By Logan C. Ritchie The Atlanta City Council put a task force to assess the impact of data centers on hold after city staff announced Mayor Andre Dickens’ effort to create a data center strategy group. The data center task force resolution by Council member Kelsea Bond was working its way through the City of Atlanta approval process before the Aug. 17 announcement. City council members expressed concerns about a duplicate effort by Dickens, stalling Bond’s resolution and sending it back to committee. “I’m loath to reinvent the wheel …

when we should be operating as one effort, one city,” Council member Alex Wan said. Wan, along with other council members, supports an effort to review data center best practices and asked to “hit the pause button” until the two proposals can be reconciled. Wan referred to Dickens’ internal deadline of Oct. 30. An unknown number of data centers are operating in Georgia. While Bond estimates 75 data centers in the state, other sources count between 100 and 200. Bond introduced the data center task force to examine the development, location, and regulation of data centers File photo

in response to growing opposition to the potential data center in Adair Park. “I believe that local policy makers are responsible for being fully informed of these risks that the rapid expansion of data centers poses, and I believe this task force will bring all the right experts into the room to drive these conversations,” Bond told Rough Draft. Opposition to data centers focuses on the negative impacts on electric grid capacity, water supply, noise, and cost to taxpayers. “We’ve heard so many concerns about the negative impacts of data centers on utility bills, the environment, heat islands, and public health.” Bond said. “Data center developers and big tech companies are pushing local governments hard to approve new facilities, and it’s the responsibility of policymakers to be fully informed about the consequences of data center expansion as we consider land use and zoning decisions in the City of Atlanta.” Bond had asked for 23 members of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience, the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation, Atlanta City Planning, MARTA, the Department of Transportation, Watershed Management, and other stakeholders to join her effort. Bond said environmental experts and public health experts are not currently listed as part of the mayor’s working

8 | SEPTEMBER 2026

group. Wan said Atlanta Chief Strategy Officer Zaffer Sange circulated a memo on Dickens’ plan. Bond said the administration is “aligning city departments to create a common policy framework to guide this task force because this is very rapidly changing technology.” “It’s a lot to understand if you’re not an engineer,” Bond said, adding that data center meetings should be held in public, documented, and recorded. In a social media post, Bond said Atlanta residents “deserve to have local representatives who understand the real environmental, public health, and cost risks that data centers pose to our communities. We need decision-making shaped by what’s best for the working people of Atlanta, not wealthy tech companies.” “This kind of conversation needs to be had. There are a lot of bad acting data centers all over the state of Georgia and all over the country, but there are also a number of innovations that are underway to address the environmental concerns, the water usage concerns, concerns around power usage, and most importantly, the public health concerns. We need to have a very public and robust conversation about this,” Council member Wayne Martin said. ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

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SUSTAINABILITY

Atlanta’s disappearing tree canopy

Photo by Sally Bethea

Twenty-seven years ago, I bought a house because I fell in love with a tree. The huge silver maple growing through the elevated deck attached to the back of the house captured my heart the moment I saw her. The screened treehouse ABOVE THE beside the maple WATER LINE sealed the deal. About forty feet from the ground, the tree's trunk splits into two large stems, Sally Bethea creating a V-shape: open arms reaching skyward to feel the warmth of the sun. Sadly, at 100-plus years old, she is not doing well. Midtown Atlanta’s dense urban environment and climate change have taken their toll. Boutee Tree has kept excellent watch over her through the years. Now, they say it’s time to let her go. I’m not coping well with this news, despite expecting it. Visible through the French doors that connect my kitchen to the deck, my maple has been a constant companion: a daily comfort through the seasons and the years.

16 | SEPTEMBER 2026

Twice, as her girth grew, I expanded the hole in the deck that is her portal to the sky. My granddogs – both squirrel experts – excitedly watch the bushy-tailed rodents that race up and down her trunk; several live in a large hole in the tree: a deep cavity that the arborists say is rotting. Once, I stood on the deck on a summer evening below a branch where a barred owl perched, surveying his realm. His steadfast, minuteslong gaze down at me was both exhilarating and unnerving. My maple has kept my deck shady and the treehouse cool. She has presided as a co-host for alfresco dinners and brightened the night when wrapped with holiday lights. How can I let her go? How will I replace her gifts? I grew up spoiled in our city of trees and am forever surprised when I travel to places without a green canopy to provide shade and cooler temperatures, purify the air, slow storm runoff, support abundant wildlife, and relieve daily stress. A recent trip to largely treeless Venice, Italy during a severe heat wave shocked me into the realization that Atlanta simply cannot afford to lose its mature trees; they are essential infrastructure for a safe, healthy city. Documented loss Tree loss does not have to be inevitable in a growing urban area–yet that is exactly what has been happening in Atlanta for years, due to failed leadership through multiple city administrations. If Atlanta is serious about its goal of achieving a 50 percent tree canopy, somebody needs to tell our elected officials that they’re headed in the wrong direction. Recently, Georgia Tech did just that, but was anybody listening? Do they care? Not really, it appears, from the lack of a meaningful response. Between 2008 and 2023, the city lost

an average of 150 acres of urban forest each year, according to an assessment recently released by Georgia Tech’s Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics. Nearly 48 percent of city land was covered by trees in 2008; fifteen years later, just 45.7 percent remained under tree cover. Study author Tony Giarrusso told city council members that the loss is likely even greater. The data he used is now three years old. Additionally, properties clear-cut for development during the Great Recession, but not yet developed, host saplings that will eventually be removed; in the recent assessment, they were counted as part of the canopy. Seventy-two percent of the city’s existing canopy is on private land. In recent years, multi-family projects have been responsible for most of the tree loss. Through a thousand cuts, literally, Atlanta’s civic leaders are allowing the destruction of an immensely valuable asset: one of the most effective tools available free of charge to deal with heat waves, floods, and polluted air. Regulation and forest preservation Reaching the city’s 50 percent canopy goal demands a serious commitment to regulation and preservation. The25-yearold city tree ordinance is battered and beaten–as are the stakeholders who have worked tirelessly for years to update it. Last year, when improvement seemed near, organized developers–Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and Council for Quality Growth– convinced city officials to halt forward movement, again. The ordinance was marginally strengthened last year, but advocates say it’s still too cheap to cut down a tree and required replanting fails too often. The city has refused to set a preservation standard for mature trees, nor is it adding enough new trees to offset losses. More of the city’s existing canopy must be preserved now through acquisition. The Conservation

Fund, a land-buying partner that helps preserve natural areas in the city, says there are many forested tracts available. Mayor Andre Dickens could use his prominent position to demand that tree stakeholders meet and negotiate until they reach agreement, by a date certain, on an ordinance that actually protects trees. I’ve been in a number of similarly structured environmental mediations over the successful years. The mayor and civic leaders could also mount an aggressive campaign to work with private philanthropy to buy more forested tracts. Not doing so is a choice. Other cities have prioritized their trees. In 2015, Georgia Tech’s Urban Climate Lab conducted a heat risk assessment for Louisville, Kentucky—one of the fastestgrowing and most intense urban heat islands in the country. They documented an “alarming” loss of trees. Civic leaders shifted into high gear. In efforts that were intentional and strategic, they strengthened tree protection ordinances, preserved existing canopy, and planted tens of thousands of trees. They achieved a remarkable increase of 1 percent in the city’s tree canopy in eight years. As summer fades, I’m spending more time on my deck, silently thanking my silver maple for her century of service and watching her leaves dance in the wind.

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Free & Open to the Public!

DOWNTOWN DECATUR, GA FRI, OCT 2

Keynote, 7 PM

SAT, OCT 3

Festival, 10 AM – 5 PM decaturbookfestival.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Decatur Book Festival returns Oct. 2-3 • Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko, I Am a Good Dog: A Dogtown Book, as DBF’s “Kidnote.” • Tomi Adeyemi, The Siren • Marcia Chatelain, How Bright The Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington •Ryan Douglass, Night of Madness •Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made •Celeste Headlee, Freedom’s Daughter’s: How a Generation of Black Women Resisted Oppression Through Literacy and Education

Brian Goldstone

The Decatur Book Festival (DBF) has unveiled the full lineup for its 21st annual festival, taking place Oct. 2–3 in downtown Decatur. Free and open to all, the festival takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in various locations, including the new Decatur Square Stage. This year’s lineup includes authors working in literary fiction, picture books, romance and romantasy, nonfiction, science fiction, poetry, horror, memoir, chapter books and graphic novels for young readers, young adult, and many more. Pulitzer Winner Brian Goldstone (There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America) will open the festival on Friday evening at 7 p.m. for the keynote session, in conversation with Brea Baker. The session is free, although advanced registration is encouraged. The remaining sessions will run Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including:

Poplars

•Silas House, The Tulip

• Meherwan Irani, No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World: At-Home Recipes from the Streets, Truck Stops, Villages, and Palaces of India • Tareasa “Reesa Teesa” Johnson, What (TF) Do I Do Now?: Reclaiming Myself, One Piece at a Time

• Steven Raichlen, Man on Fire: Of Life, Love, Literature, and Really Good Barbecue • Chelsea Rathburn, Broken Houses: Poems • Roopika Risam, Data Empire: The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate • Eliot Schrefer, Fatal Glitch: Let’s Play a Game • Arthur Sze, Transient Worlds: On Translating Poetry • Aiden Thomas, Cemetery Boys: Espíritu • Colleen AF Venable and Honie Beam, Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying: The Graphic Novel • Nghi Vo, The Scarlet Ball • Michelle A. Williams, The Cure for Everything: The Epic Struggle for Public Health and a Radical Vision for Human Thriving On Saturday, downtown Decatur will transform into a lively street fair featuring more than 125 exhibitors: authors, poets, publishers, booksellers, artists, and local businesses and nonprofit organizations, alongside food trucks and Decatur buskers. Family-friendly programming for DBF’s youngest attendees (ages 0 – 5)

Gennifer Choldenko

• Agnes Scott College • Emory University • Georgia College and State University • Georgia State University • Mercer University • Morehouse College • SCAD Atlanta • Spelman College • University of Georgia The full author lineup is available at decaturbookfestival.com.

Tayari Jones

• Tayari Jones, Kin • Patricia Lockwood, Agate Head / Stone Soup • Madeline Martin, A Time of Witches • Pedro Martín, Mexikid Dreams: A Graphic Memoir Katherine Applegate

18 | SEPTEMBER 2026

• J.Tom Morgan, A Rainy Night in Georgia • Lynn Painter, Trust Fall

includes storytimes and performances with Alliance Theatre, Atlanta History Center, and Music Together of Decatur. Other events happening during the festival include an audiobook walk, a celebration of the Lillian Smith Book Awards, a meeting of the Silent Book Club, and more. The Emerging Student Writers at the Decatur Library will showcase readings by students from the following universities:

Nghi Vo

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Out on Film Festival begins Sept. 24 By Sammie Purcell More than 150 films, including a critically acclaimed film from the Cannes Film Festival and works by Alan Cumming, Rachel Dratch, and more, will play at this year’s Out on Film Festival. The LGBTQ+ film festival will run from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4. Gary Jaffe’s comedy “Before I Do” will open the festival, while the Spanish movie “La Bola Negra,” directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, will serve as the closing film. Other movies include “Give Me the Ball,” a documentary about tennis icon Billie Jean King; “Desert Hearts,” a romantic drama based on the novel of the same name; “The Divine Tragedy,” from director Sergio Tovar Velarde; and “Out of the Woods,” starring Francis Fisher. Out on Film will also screen the first episode

of the upcoming STARZ drama “Tip Toe,” starring Alan Cumming and David Morrissey. “Coming off of a record-breaking 2025, we are extraordinarily proud to present our largest festival ever, one that shines a spotlight on cinema and voices around the world,” said Out on Film Festival Director Jim Farmer. “It’s also wonderful to be able to offer so many Atlanta-area films and filmmakers, including some exciting world premieres.” The theme for this year’s festival is “The World We’re Making,” meant to celebrate the world that LGBTQ+ filmmakers and audiences create through art, creativity, and shared experience. All festival screenings, Q&A sessions, and panels will take place at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. This year’s lineup will also include

seven films that were awarded grants from Out on Film’s Filmmaker Fund, including Charlene Fisk’s “Call and Response” and Hannah Alline’s “Scissors.” Out on Film plans to present its 2026 Rising Star Award to actor/singer/ director Jelani Alladin, whose short film “Next Year” will have its world premiere at the festival. Aladdin is known for playing Kristoff in “Frozen” on Broadway and for his role as Marcus Gaines in the 2023 miniseries “Fellow Travelers. See the full lineup and get tickets at outonfilm.org.

Dolly Parton was no stranger to Georgia iconic hit, “Jolene.” Above and beyond her musical talents, Parton was also an actress and filmed While Dolly Parton’s home has always movies and TV shows here in metro been in Tennessee, she was far from a Atlanta. stranger here in Georgia. The iconic The 2012 film “Joyful Noise” featured country singer, actress, businesswoman, scenes shot at the Atlanta Civic Center and and philanthropist died on Tuesday at the in the cities of Smyrna, Fairburn, Newnan age of 80 after a battle with cancer. and Peachtree City. The film stars Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton as two strong-willed women who clash over the direction of a smalltown church choir. Together, they try to lead the struggling group to win a national choir competition. The TV series “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings” was shot in Doraville, Canton, Marietta, Kennesaw, Stone Mountain, Norcross and other metro locations. The eight-episode A 1975 picture of former Georgia Lt. Gov. Zell Miller series on Netflix brought with Dolly Parton hangs on the wall at Manuel’s the stories, memories, Tavern. (Courtesy of Manuel’s Tavern) and inspirations behind Parton’s classic songs to Parton’s Georgia connections stretch life, dedicating one song to each episode. back to the beginning of her fame when Her “Coat of Many Colors” – whose she married her late husband, Carl Dean, title became one of Parton’s signature hits in Ringgold, GA, in 1966 to keep their – was filmed in Conyers and Covington. nuptials private as her star was on the rise The made-for-TV show was based on the in Nashville. true story of Parton’s childhood. Georgia Tech took to social media to Throughout the day, Georgia officials honor the music legend, posting photos have released their condolences over from a concert she performed at Tech’s Parton’s passing. Alexander Memorial Coliseum in 1977. “Her exceptional talent and voice, and “We remember a legend and celebrate the kindness she demonstrated throughout the lasting legacy she leaves behind,” the her life and career are American treasures. college said in its post. As a daughter of a neighboring state, her Parton, an outspoken supporter of loss is felt all the more in the South where LGBTQ+ rights, famously performed at she was so deeply loved,” Gov. Brian Kemp Center Stage in Midtown in 2002, inviting said. “Her impact on this Earth reached local drag queens on stage to perform her far beyond the music industry, and her life By Scott Flynn| WSB-TV and Collin Kelly

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

and legacy will continue to be celebrated for generations to come. She will be greatly missed, and the prayers of our family are with her loved ones and the entire State of Tennessee that proudly calls her their own. Pat Houston, sister-in-law of Whitney Houston, said she was “so sad” to hear of Dolly’s passing, and thanked her for

allowing Whitney to sing her song, “I Will Always Love You.” “I am grateful that Whitney’s voice helped carry one of Dolly’s timeless songs into the hearts of millions,” Houston wrote. “May she rest in Peace knowing her music and her heart will live on forever.”

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SEPTEMBER 2026 | A SPECIAL SECTION

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Established in 1904, Ansley Park endures as a refined Midtown oasis where winding streets, storied residences, and lush landscapes converge just moments from the renowned Woodruff Arts Center and the city's premier cultural institutions. During the weekend of October 2nd, the Ansley Park Tour of Homes is back with its most ambitious program yet. This celebrated tradition invites Atlantans to experience one of the city's most iconic neighborhoods through an artful lens of architecture, design, and history. This year's Tour of Homes weekend, centered around the theme of Ansley Park: An Arts-Filled Legacy, promises to be filled with glamorous events, exciting new additions, and of course, gorgeous homes.

2026 Ansley Park Tour of Homes Tour eight exceptional Ansley Park homes on Oct. 3-4, showcasing the character and evolution of Ansley Park living. Featuring a variety of styles and time periods, this year's homes offer inspiring design, exceptional workmanship, and the variety that makes Ansley Park so exceptional. And don’t forget the preview party on Oct. 2 on the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families at the Woodruff Arts Center. Visit ansleypark.org/Tour-of-Homes or scan the QR code for tickets and details.

22 | SEPTEMBER 2026

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Ansley Park - A neighbor of the arts

By Re Marzullo When Edwin Ansley created his eponymous neighborhood back in 1904, the closest neighbors were the Piedmont Driving Club and the vast swath of land that would eventually become Piedmont Park. Back then, Ansley Park was considered to be on the outskirts of ever-expanding Atlanta. Fast forward 122 years and today’s Ansley Park, with its winding tree-lined streets and incredible architecture by some of history’s most storied names, sits in the epicenter of Atlanta’s arts and cultural community. During the 2026 Ansley Park Tour of Homes, visitors can not only see beautiful homes throughout the neighborhood, but

they can also take advantage of Ansley’s proximity to the best that Midtown Atlanta has to offer. Over the years, Ansley Park has become a sought after neighborhood known not only for amazing architecture by some of Atlanta’s leading names like Neel Reid, A. Ten Eyck Brown and P. Thornton Marye, but also for its convenient intown location that’s literally in the shadows of Midtown’s skyscrapers. An incredible “suburb in the city” as Edwin Ansley intended, Ansley Park offers an oasis of tree-lined streets and a variety of homes, large and small, making up one of the city’s most compelling neighborhoods. In addition to gorgeous homes, the storied neighborhood has also watched

as some of the most celebrated neighbors in the city have moved in right next door. From the 1920s when Hattie High donated the land that would become The High Museum, to this past year when The Woodruff Arts Center opened its newest space, The Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families, Ansley Park has welcomed and supported these organizations located a quick walk across Peachtree Street. The arts that surround Ansley Park aren’t only found indoors either. The same greenspace that once marked Ansley Park’s southeastern border, Piedmont Park, is now home to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, another Ansley Park neighbor that sits just across Piedmont Avenue. There’s also “Midtown’s Living Room,” the

reimagined and rebuilt Colony Square, at 15th and Peachtree offering a wide variety of dining and entertainment options. Historical churches like First Presbyterian of Atlanta and First Church of Christ, Scientist are also nearby as are art galleries, smaller museums, and numerous shops and restaurants. While Edwin Ansley’s initial vision for a tree-lined suburban style neighborhood in the city may not have included an artscentered backdrop, Ansley Park is richer and more vibrant because of it. This year’s Ansley Park Tour of Homes on October 3rd and 4th brings the city of Atlanta an incredible opportunity to get to know not only Ansley Park, but their arts-aligned neighbors as well.

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Ansley Park Tour of Homes: Much more than beautiful houses

By Re Marzullo

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The 2026 Ansley Park Tour of Homes, Ansley Park: An Arts-Filled Legacy, features eight extraordinary residences in Ansley Park with stops ranging from the very first home built in the neighborhood to an ultra-modern condominium directly across from the High Museum. In addition to the homes themselves, however, tour planners have also added numerous “extras” to educate, entertain and show all that Ansley Park and Midtown has to offer. As part of this year’s collaboration with the Woodruff Arts Center, tour-goers will enjoy an exclusive behind the scenes experience at the Alliance Theatre from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM on both Saturday and Sunday. Visitors can enjoy music from the Atlanta Symphony in rehearsal and get a look at the beautiful new PNC Play Space in the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families. Next, tour-goers are invited to explore the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) which will be open to ticketholders free of charge on both Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM. With a mission rooted in creativity, community, and transformation, MODA is a natural and inspired addition to a weekend celebrating the best of Atlanta's design and architecture. Tour-goers are also invited to visit the First Church of Christ, Scientist for a special open house from 12:30–3:30

PM on both Saturday and Sunday. Designed in a Beaux-Arts Classical style, this architectural gem was built in 1914 and serves as an entry to Ansley Park. This Tour stop offers a rare glimpse inside one of the neighborhood's most beloved and storied landmarks. In another extra, the lobby of the exquisite historic property, The Villa, near Ansley Golf Club will be open each day during the tour. This stop allows visitors to see the Italian neoclassical architecture of one of Atlanta's most storied buildings that was designed by renowned Atlanta architect Philip Trammell Shutze. Getting around Ansley Park will be easier than ever this year as a trolley will be rolling all weekend long to give Ansley Park Tour of Homes attendees an opportunity to see more of the neighborhood and learn about its history along the way. Come for the homes, stay for the extras.

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

929 Springdale Rd NE JUST LISTED Offered for $9,450,000

94 Inman Cir NE ACTIVE Offered for $3,395,000 Ansley Park

One Museum Place

Ansley Park

Druid Hills

Compass is a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, condition, sale, or withdrawal without notice. No statement is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of real estate brokerage.

Jim Getzinger

404.307.4020 | 404.668.6621 jim.getzinger@compass.com

A Deep Understanding of Intown. 28+ Years of Experience.

Proud Sponsor of The 2026 Ansley Park Tour of Homes

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1301 Peachtree ST NE, Unit 2G JUST SOLD Offered for $1,795,000 299 The Prado NE UNDER CONTRACT Offered for $3,895,000

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397 & 399 8TH STREET OFFERED FOR $1,395,000

1163 UNIVERSITY DRIVE OFFERED FOR $1,359,000

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750 YORKSHIRE ROAD OFFERED FOR $2,275,000

839 DREWRY STREET RESERVED FOR $3,795,000

1711 TYLER GREEN TRAIL* OFFERED FOR $945,000 Listing Agents: Sherita Johnson & Diadra Ackols, Collective Vision Realty

© 2026 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty Producer, January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2025. Zip Codes 30306, 30308 and 30324. All Property Types; All Price Points. Statistics sourced from FMLS. *Represented the buyer. **Represented both sides. †Off market. 3290 Northside Parkway, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30327.

JARED SAPP

RANGES –Jared Recently Sold

R EAL ESTATE GROUP

1598 W. SUSSEX ROAD OFFERED FOR $3,195,000

MORNINGSIDE, VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND + MIDTOWN, 2022–2025 2025 TOP-PRODUCING ADVISOR IN MORNINGSIDE AND VIRGINIA-HIGHLAND ATLANTA FINE HOMES SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY

637 LINWOOD AVENUE OFFERED FOR $1,245,000

1139 SPRINGDALE ROAD OFFERED FOR $1,900,000

TOP 1% INDUSTRY-WIDE SURPASSED $1 BILLION IN SALES! PHOENIX AWARD RECIPIENT 25 YEARS OF REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE JARED PROUDLY SUPPORTS

1269 UNIVERSITY DRIVE OFFERED FOR $ 1,145,000

1975 LENOX ROAD OFFERED FOR $1,095,000

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2629 ASHFORD ROAD* OFFERED FOR $ 4,500,000 Listing Agent: Shanna Bradley Ansley Real Estate | Christie’s International Real Estate

960 LOS ANGELES AVENUE OFFERED FOR FOR $3,395,000

y, Inc. All offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice. Equal Housing Opportunity. TrendGraphix, Top

Watch Ansley Park’s history come to life

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By Re Marzullo A lot of notable and compelling history has happened in Ansley Park over the years as a number of Atlanta’s most prominent historical figures have made their mark and their homes here. In an exciting addition to the 2026 Ansley Park Tour of Homes, tour-goers will have the opportunity to watch these characters come to life during the Premium Experience being held in the gorgeous downstairs “speakeasy” at the first home ever built in Ansley Park, one of the homes on this year’s tour. By purchasing the Premium Experience add-on to the Ansley Park Tour of

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THE GRAYDON BUCKHEAD 2520 PEACHTREE ROAD #602 OFFERED FOR $1,990,000

Homes ticket, guests gain access to performances featuring live actors from the Alliance Theatre bringing Ansley’s history to life in 20 minutes. Featuring stories of Ansley Park’s fascinating past, these presentations will give the audience a chance to hear and learn directly from figures like Edwin Ansley who first envisioned Ansley Park as an “oasis in the city,” Solon Ruff who brought Ansley’s vision to life, Rosa Woodberry and her all-girls school, and of course, Margaret Mitchell, a former student of Woodberry’s who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Gone with the Wind and lived in Ansley Park. These stories and more will be shared about interesting figures who helped shape Ansley Park or made it their home in years past. Seats to this unique upgrade are limited, so visit the Ansley Park Tour of Homes website to claim your spot.

With Gratitude to Our Sponsors Premier Business Sponsors

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Business Home Tour Sponsors

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Additional Valued Sponsors The Buckhead Office | 2827 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30305 | 404-233-4142 The above information is believed to be accurate but is not warranted. Offer subject to errors, changes, omissions, prior sales and withdrawals without notice. If your home is currently listed for sale, this is not intended as a solicitation. Harry Norman, REALTORS® is an exclusive member of Forbes Global Properties in Georgia. Forbes® is a registered trademark

Robert Brown Interior Design - Garnish and Gather - Peachtree Trolley Resilio Physical Therapy - MODA - Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Atlanta Intown - Rough Draft Atlanta

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S8 | SEPTEMBER 2026

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Ansley Park Tour of Homes A SELECTION OF JASON’S NOTABLE HOME SALES IN ANSLEY PARK

31 LAFAYETTE DRIVE

81 PEACHTREE CIRCLE

117 17TH STREET

107 AVERY DRIVE

80 INMAN CIRCLE

72 WESTMINSTER DRIVE

223 15TH STREET

217 15TH STREET

9 ANSLEY DRIVE

123 PEACHTREE CIRCLE

85 PEACHTREE CIRCLE

10 THE PRADO

115 17TH STREET

51 INMAN CIRCLE

21 BARKSDALE DRIVE

88 PEACHTREE CIRCLE

91 AVERY DRIVE

85 MADDOX DRIVE

156 BARKSDALE DRIVE

121 17TH STREET

JASON COOK

INDIVIDUAL ANSLEY PARK AGENT

c. 404.431.1384 | o. 404.480.HOME | JASON@ANSLEYRE.COM 952 PEACHTREE STREET, SUITE 100, ATLANTA, GA 30309 | 404.480.HOME | ANSLEYRE.COM All data believed to be accurate but not warranted. Ansley upholds Equal Housing Opportunity & Federal Fair Housing policies. If you have an existing relationship with another brokerage, this is not intended as a solicitation. Source: BrokerMetrics, YTD sales of single-family homes in Ansley Park

Ansley’s parks are picture perfect By Re Marzullo Nearly every weekend, there are photographers and their clients in Ansley Park’s historic Winn Park on Peachtree Circle. Graduates, engaged couples, families, they all want to capture a moment in this tiny treasure of a park located in the dense urban setting of Midtown Atlanta. This park, and the 13 others located throughout the neighborhood of Ansley Park, make up Edwin Ansley and Solon Ruff’s “suburb in the city,” an emerald necklace of greenspace envisioned in 1904 and built for Atlantans to enjoy for decades to come. That nature-forward design was no accident. When conceiving the plans for Ansley Park back in the early 1900s, Ansley and Ruff determined that they wanted the neighborhood to have wide and winding streets, large and gracious lawns and of course, extraordinary homes and architecture. They also wanted to ensure that no home in Ansley Park should be more than a 10-minute walk from one of Ansley’s many parks. The green spaces they envisioned and ultimately created

still exist today with five of the largest parks creating a continuous link of park space running northeast to southwest throughout the neighborhood. These gracious outdoor spaces give Ansley Park the distinct feeling of being not just a suburb in the city, but an amazingly green and peaceful oasis in the midst of bustling Midtown. Recently, the City of Atlanta and the Ansley Park Beautification Foundation have come together to give another of Ansley’s parks an impressive upgrade. Yonah Park, located on 15th Street in Ansley Park, now has a distinct upper park area with beautiful stone retaining walls and benches that overlook the park itself. A path and boardwalk connecting the 15th Street end of the park to the Yonah Overlook on nearby Lafayette Drive is almost complete and when finished will take visitors on a walk through a number of towering Tulip Poplars, some of the oldest in the city. While skyscrapers continue to grow across Midtown Atlanta’s skyline, Ansley Park still serves a vital role in providing Atlantans of all kinds a glimpse of Edwin Ansley’s dream of suburban living in the city.

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© 2026 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. All offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice. Equal Housing Opportunity. 1555 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 100, Atlanta, Georgia 30309.

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FOCUS ON EDUCATION Student absenteeism still a problem, but improving Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat When COVID-19 struck, schools closed, students “attended” from home, and too many got out of the habit of going to school when the doors reopened. In 2022, nearly a quarter of Georgia’s students had absenteeism rates high enough to be considered “chronic” — nearly double the rate before the pandemic. But new data show that the state is gradually recovering. More students are still missing school than before COVID-19, but the rate has been steadily falling, dropping to 17.7% during the 2025-26 school year. That is nearly 2 percentage points lower than the prior year, which in turn was nearly 2 points lower than in 202324, the state data show. The rate remains more than 5 percentage points above the rates in the two years before the pandemic, but observers find Georgia’s trajectory to be promising, especially when many other states have found their absenteeism problems to be more stubborn. New rates released The Georgia Department of Education released the new rates last week, well ahead of most other states, noted Nat Malkus, with the American Enterprise Institute. “Perhaps even more impressively,” he wrote in an analysis published Thursday, “Georgia’s chronic absenteeism rate is declining steadily, bucking the national trend.” During the 2024-25 school year, Georgia’s chronic absenteeism rate was 19.5%, beating the estimated national average by more than 2 percentage points, according to the group FutureEd, whose numbers had Georgia among the third of the states with the lowest rates. “We applaud the Georgia Department of Education’s early release of end-of-the-year attendance data, which shows an impressive fifth consecutive year of decreased chronic absence,” Hedy Chang, president and CEO of the group Attendance Works, said in a statement. “Georgia’s commitment to timely end-of-the-year data is a model for how states can make a difference.” Some of that success came after lawmakers passed a law last year that required more coordinated and sustained efforts against absenteeism. Senate Bill 123 required that school districts with high rates create attendance review teams that engage parents. Senate bill faces challenges State lawmakers tried to build on that

34 | SEPTEMBER 2026

this year with Senate Bill 513. “If we do not have kids’ butts in seats, they are not going to learn,” Sen. RaShaun Kemp, D-Atlanta, said before the measure passed with just one vote against it in the Senate. But the measure faced overwhelming opposition in the House due to some provisions seen as draconian, including loss of driving privileges. Many students who skip a lot of school need their licenses so they can get to jobs — not to mention to school, critics said. Studies have shown that treating the problem with punishment does not work well, said Matt Smith, the policy and research director for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. Indeed, using punishment to address misbehavior in general can aggravate the absenteeism problem by turning school into an unwelcoming environment, he said. Out-of-school suspension, one such “legacy” strategy, directly increases absenteeism. Instead, Georgia schools are more often trying to address the underlying problems, he said. That started with more behavioral and mental health counseling. But poor physical health can also rob students of their ability to focus, which can in turn lead them to misbehave, he said, so more schools are looking at that too. “It could be something as simple as getting them hearing aids or glasses, getting them dental care,” he said. Smith said the data the state education department has been releasing allows more people, including businesses and organizations in each community, to help school districts identify commonalities among students who are missing a lot of school. That enables the districts to focus their resources on those students, and it allows the community to help. They have a reason to help. Research shows that absenteeism affects the whole classroom by bogging down teachers who must divide their students into different groups as they try to catch up with the kids who have fallen behind, Smith said. Georgia and other states still have a lot of work to do to get their absenteeism rates back to a manageable level, Malkus wrote in his analysis. But he added that Georgia is showing how progress is possible when it is seen as an urgent priority. Many states take far longer than Georgia did to release their data from the prior school year, he wrote. “Indeed, there are some states — Minnesota and Texas among them — that still have not released data for the 2024–25 school year.”

APS ranks No. 1 among metro school systems for academic improvement, district says

By Sam Sachs | WSB-TV Atlanta Public Schools ranked first among metro Atlanta school districts in year-over-year academic gains for the last school year. The district achieved its strongest academic growth since the Georgia Milestones Assessment System was introduced in 2015. The district’s gains in math, science and social studies were more than double the statewide average. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and district leaders said the Back to the Basics 2030 strategic plan has influenced student achievement, attendance and teacher stability. APS Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson discussed the results at Fickett Elementary School on Aug. 9. He said the upward trend was the result of efforts from students and educators across Atlanta. “Today is an exciting day for Atlanta Public Schools, because we have the opportunity to share something our students, educators and families have earned through years of hard work,” Johnson said. “For the past several years, we have remained focused on what matters most: Excellent teaching, strong leadership, safe schools and ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed.” Data shows math proficiency at APS increased 8.2% since Georgia introduced new math standards for the 2023-24 school year. Enrollment in Atlanta schools

for eighth-grade Algebra I grew by 2%, which officials said expanded access to advanced coursework. Math proficiency levels in 2026 exceeded pre-pandemic levels from 2019 across every grade. Attendance figures also showed improvement, with 72.4% of students avoiding chronic absenteeism this year. This represents a 3.6% increase from 2025. The district has narrowed the chronic absenteeism gap with the state from 14.2 percentage points in 2022 to 8% in 2026. The district reported a 90% teacher retention rate at the start of the current school year. Teachers in the district have an average of 13.8 years of experience. Atlanta Public Schools also reported having zero teacher vacancies on the first day of school. “The Atlanta Board of Education couldn’t be more proud of this accomplishment,” Atlanta Board of Education Chair Jessica Johnson said. “Under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, the efforts of our teachers, administrators and students are producing the kinds of results that prove that the investments we have made in our people and our programming are working.” School officials said while progress has been made, they’re going to continue working to focus on student achievement and teacher stability to continue improving outcomes.

ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Coach advises how to reset technology rules for children By Logan C. Ritchie Cari Newman – a certified parent coach, certified life coach, and former classroom teacher in metro Atlanta – says it’s never too late to make a change when it comes to limiting technology. Newman works with parents and caregivers of children from toddlers to young adults. Together, they identify challenges, create a strategy, and address issues head on. And that’s for all kinds of sticking points – from motivation to grades to technology. “The work is focused on how parents navigate, stages, expectations, and shifts in the family dynamic while maintaining relationships,” Newman said. When it comes to technology exposure or “screen time,” Newman said parents are fighting the very thing they’ve introduced to their kids. Parents question how to pull their child back from the fun content that they’ve become enamored with, she said. “A lot of parents come to me with the assumption that it’s too late. They think, ‘You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,’” Newman said. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screens before 18 months and one hour of high‑quality content daily for ages two to five. Screens shouldn’t replace sleep, physical activity, family time or free play, AAP suggests. Device‑free

bedrooms and mealtimes help to maintain healthy routines – which applies to all ages. To address and change screen time exposure, it will take a parenting plan and the understanding that kids will resist. But Newman suggests parents think of social media like a newly discovered allergy, then adjust their approach. “If you went to the doctor and said, ‘Hey, my child is having a reaction to tree nuts. This is new.’ Would the doctor say, ‘Oh well, you already ate almonds. Too late.’ No, you get new information and then you change what you’re doing,” Newman said. Access to social networking “Sometimes parents use technology as a babysitter. It makes total sense. We’ve all been there. But once you realize the babysitter is a vampire, you might want to look more closely,” Newman said. There are some surprising places where unmonitored social networking can pop up with disastrous results. In elementary and middle school classrooms, Canva is used for book reports, comics, digital posters, photo collages and group projects. A Jacksonville, Fla., teacher was arrested in April for misusing Canva’s chat function to groom a student. For an elementary schooler, the conversation looks like boundaries with

room to mess up. Parents may agree to let their child use technology with a stated and agreed understanding of the rules. “If they goof, which they will, because that’s part of what childhood is – finding the cracks, and where the child can push the limits – the parents’ job is to recognize a boundary has been crossed and reset. Tighten it up and try again in a couple of weeks, she advised. Chat features are accessible in online games and systems including Roblox, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Toca Boca, XBox, and Play Station. Newman also advises parents to monitor YouTube. “Anyone with a drawing pad can put up an animated show, and if a kid has YouTube, who knows what they’re seeing,” she said. Parents who play games with their kids are more present, which is an effective monitoring tool, Newman said, but there’s not always time. It’s more convenient to make dinner or throw in a load of laundry while kids are occupied with a game or show. Parents are exhausted. “I completely understand when parents come to me and say, ‘This feels way too

At Paideia, curiosity drives everything.

Ages 3–12th grade | Druid Hills, Atlanta paideiaschool.org

36 | SEPTEMBER 2026

Resources Newman wants parents to know they’re not alone. In addition to working with Newman to make a family plan, she recommends a few ways to reevaluate technology use. First up is Savvy Cyber Kids. Owner Ben Halpert teaches online safety education for families, education for kids. Halpern has partnered with Chatperone, an AI chat platform that’s safe for kids. Second is Ben Gillenwater at Family IT Guy. A cybersecurity expert, he runs an online course that walks people through iPhone settings. Newman’s weekly newsletter is a helpful tool. She speaks at schools and organizations around metro Atlanta, and she’s writing a book. “My role is to help parents figure out what they have the capacity for and what will work for their family,” Newman said. “They don’t have to start from scratch.”

Students encouraged to learn about US Constitution By Logan C. Ritchie

WHY JUST LEARN WHEN YOU CAN EXPLORE?

far gone because I let it go.’ I get it, and I have been there,” she said. “You can pull it back. That’s your prerogative and your responsibility as a parent.”

Members of the American Legion Post 140 in Chastain Park have committed to advancing high school students’ knowledge of the US Constitution by supporting the Department of Georgia Oratorical Contest, an event held every spring. The oratorical contest brings together teenagers from metro Atlanta in a one-day study and debate over the Constitution of the United States, an “idealistic and encouraging” event organized by local veteran Navy officer David Llewellyn. Llewellyn, an Atlanta trial lawyer, has managed the Post’s annual oratorical contest for the last 15 years. He’s encouraged by the passion young competitors show for the Constitution and rule of law. The American Legion has hosted its national Oratorical Contest since 1938, reflecting the organization’s commitment to engaging youth. “If you want to feel good about the next generation, come watch these contests,” Llewellyn said. The contest sponsored by Post 140 is held at North Atlanta High School. Llewellyn has for years worked closely with James Jones, a former Army officer and AP Government teacher at North Atlanta High School. Llewellyn described Jones as “a very devoted teacher who is very devoted to this contest.” Fun fact: North Atlanta Vice

Principal Jill Stewart competed in the oratorical contest years ago. Applicants must be U.S. citizens in ninth to 12th grade, enrolled in any area high school or homeschooling program. If the contest is full at North Atlanta, Llewellyn will help students find an opening nearby. In 2025, Allison Yang, one of the Post’s contestants, won the state competition and went on to place in the top 20 nationally. “We’re very proud. These future leaders are some of the best and brightest in the north Atlanta metro area,” Hajost said. On Monday, Aug. 10, six metro Atlanta students were recognized for their participation at Boys and Girls State, a one-week course in state and local government. ■

Rohan Anand, Westminster Schools

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Charles Dunn, St. Francis School

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Nancy Guzman, Riverwood International Charter School

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Grady Hill, Decatur High School

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Rhys Kopecky, Westminster Schools

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London Salter, Pace Academy

The 2027 topics have just been announced. For more information, contact David Llewellyn at david@ llewellynlawfirm.com. ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

What motivated us in 1996 still motivates us today: to inspire every dancer to be the best they can be.

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TOUR Championship names 2026 HOPE Tee Shot honorees By Rough Draft Staff The TOUR Championship announced its 2026 HOPE Tee Shot honorees, with First Tee – Metro Atlanta members Ariel Collins and Jacob Smith selected to each hit the opening tee shots at the recent PGA TOUR’s finale event. Both honorees also receive a scholarship on behalf of the TOUR Championship Proud Partner Accenture. Collins, 16, and Smith, 14, were honored during the HOPE Tee Shot Opening Ceremony on Aug. 27 on the No. 1 tee box at East Lake Golf Club. “The HOPE Tee Shot is one of the most meaningful traditions of TOUR Championship week,” TOUR Championship Executive Director Alex Urban said in a media release. “Before the competition gets underway, it shines a spotlight on extraordinary young people and the organizations that help them thrive. We’re proud to provide a platform that celebrates their accomplishments and creates memories that will last a lifetime.” Ariel Collins Collins, a rising junior at Acellus Academy, has been a member of First Tee – Metro Atlanta for nine years. Throughout her golf career, she has relied on her commitment to respect – one of First Tee’s

38 | SEPTEMBER 2026

Nine Core Values – which she said has become the foundation for every aspect of her life. Collins said she learned that respect isn’t just about others, but about yourself, and uses that frame of mind to better serve as a positive mentor both on and off the course. When not playing golf, Collins is coaching golf. Ariel volunteers as head golf coach for the Henry County Special Olympics Golf Team and enjoys watching her favorite player, Nelly Korda, compete on the LPGA Tour. Jacob Smith Smith has been an active participant within First Tee – Metro Atlanta since 2017. As a rising freshman at Drew Charter School, he has leaned on perseverance – another one of First Tee’s Nine Core Values – to keep him working hard even when things get difficult. Smith said he learned that improvement comes from staying committed and continuing to push forward no matter what happens, which has guided his approach to golf and life. Smith’s favorite PGA TOUR player is Jordan Spieth, and when he’s not playing golf, he enjoys watching college football. One of his proudest moments on the golf course to date was his hole-in-one on No. 8 at the John A. White Golf Course.

Ariel Collins and Jacob Smith at East Lake Golf Club. (Courtesy TOUR Championship)

“At First Tee – Metro Atlanta, we believe golf is a vehicle for teaching life skills and supporting the overall wellbeing of young people,” said Steven D. Wooten, Interim Executive Director of First Tee – Metro Atlanta. “Ariel and Jacob exemplify confidence, perseverance and integrity both on and off the course. Their selection reflects what is possible when young people are empowered to grow as

leaders and embrace new challenges. We are grateful to the TOUR Championship and our proud partners, Accenture, Coca-Cola Company and Southern Company, for investing in our program and creating opportunities that inspire the next generation to be successful in all their endeavors.”

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Students complete first simulated Mars mission

Students in Mission Control work on the final shift of a simulated Mars mission on Aug. 18, 2026.. (Amanda Andrews/GPB News)

By Amanda Andrews | GPB News After 10 days in isolation, a group of Georgia Tech students will be returning from Arkansas having completed their first simulated Mars mission. Southeast Analog is a program run

40 | SEPTEMBER 2026

by students at Georgia Tech interested in spaceflight. The SEA-1 Thalassa mission included six “astronauts” on a simulated Mars habitat in Arkansas and 30 crew in mission control on campus. Students in the Southeast Analog program worked

in three shifts around the clock to do astronaut training, spaceflight operations, and research. Alan Yeung is a graduate student and flight director for the mission. He said the mission had simulated time delays in mission control for a more realistic

experience. “The time it takes for a conversation from Earth to get to Mars is approximately 20 minutes,” Yeung said. “It ranges depending on where we are, but 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back. So that means it could take 40 minutes before the crew can actually tell us something that we’ve told them, and that is a huge challenge.” During the 10 days, astronauts leave their capsule to complete experiments ranging from soil sampling to teleoperating a rover. These exercises are called extravehicular activities or EVAs. Sara Kapasi, who is head of research at Southeast Analog, said the group consulted with experts in the industry to develop astronaut procedures that mimic real life. “There’s them being in isolation, making sure that all their EVAs happen at night so they don’t run into people,” Kapasi said. “They have freeze-dried food that they’re eating the whole time over those 10 days that they have to rehydrate, as well as they exercise for around two hours every day to kind of simulate them not losing any bone when they would be in space.” This is one of the first student-led analog astronaut missions in the United States.

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The price to play: Are youth sports a scam? By Bella Ying EDITOR’s NOTE: This story is a partnership with VOX ATL, a youth-led nonprofit media organization that prepares teens for life, career, and community by harnessing the power of youth voice and uncensored self-expression. Find out more at voxatl.org. I started playing basketball in fourth grade. My father has the pictures on his phone to prove it — me, 10 years old, sitting on the bench, hands folded under my legs, and my back hunched. Before that, I’d quit dance, theater, and swim team to fully commit myself to the sport that I’m still playing five years later. Even at that age, it was evident that I would never be a star. Yet, I stuck with it. Hundreds of pictures of me in action on the court or clipped in a video are evidence of my trials. At least, that’s the visible evidence. I can’t show you the countless early mornings I’ve spent in the gym alone, with one of my teams, or with a private coach paid for the hour, or the contemplative late nights after tournaments I’ve spent warming benches. Somewhere along the way, between tip-off of my first game and the $1,000 deposits, the question arose: Is it worth it? When I look back, will the years of giving so much of myself, of so much sweat and tears, just for marginal improvements, be worthwhile? And given the number of American teenagers who play organized sports, I’m likely not alone with my existential athletic crisis. According to the New York Times, youth sports are a $40 billion industry as of 2025. In the most recent year of data in 2023, 55% of America’s youth played organized sports, according to Project Play. Yet, among youth aged 6-17, only 1 in 13 will go on to play in college. And what’s more, only one in 57 will play at the Division I level. The difficulty of the question “Are youth sports worth it?” is that, looking beyond the realm of childhood athletics and into humanity as a whole, we realize that all people are different. Many children enjoy competition, and sports are a perfect outlet for that. Furthermore, different families invest different amounts into youth sports. The majority of youth athletes, though, come from middle-class backgrounds. These are families with parents willing to invest thousands and thousands of dollars — or stretch

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to invest — to join travel teams and play in out-of-town tournaments from adolescence to adulthood. The shift from community-based programs to for-profit club sports is called privatization. For resource-having, middleclass families, a phenomenon called adultification has been surging over the past few decades. “Adultification is where they’re [adults] so much in control that it’s their show rather than the kids’ show,” said Dr. Mary G. McDonald. McDonald, Ph.D., University of Iowa, is Homer C. Rice Chair in Sports and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I spoke to her over Zoom one morning. Where youth sports should focus on skill development, parents increasingly see an opportunity to invest in their child’s activities. One common cause is the fear of missing out, deeply rooted in a fundamental ideology of American culture: a focus on winning and competition, she cited. Adult interference is, of course, not binary. Coaches will always be necessary because, where children fall short in aspects of sport like strategizing,

adults bridge the gap, and, to a certain extent, they must organize these sport structures. But if parents are investing so much money for their child to play on a team where the adults take away autonomy, then the children who aren’t playing to earn scholarships don’t receive the benefits of camaraderie, collaboration, and leadership. “Those opportunities for growth for kids kind of drop out because it becomes more adult-centered,” McDonald said. Going on to say, “Put the youth back in youth sports rather than trying to make people mini-adults when they’re still growing and developing.” But some parents, too, believe their child will earn an athletic scholarship or even go pro. That puts a lot of pressure on the children, which can lead to burnout. A primary benefit of youth sports, McDonald said, is teaching physical literacy, which is the ability to challenge your body through movement in different situations. While sports are a great way for children to learn physical literacy, it’s not the only way, McDonald

argued. Activities like marching band also accomplish this. The bottom line is that “if you’re active when you’re younger, you have developed some of those skills and abilities so that maybe you’re more likely to be active as you age,” McDonald said. At the end of the day, “There isn’t anything intrinsically about sport that makes you get certain benefits, even though the people who are big advocates of sport will tell you that,” said McDonald. “You can find comparable things in other activities.”

Adultification is where they’re [adults] so much in control that it’s their show rather than the kids’ show. Dr. Mary G. McDonald

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Spelman College builds a legacy of excellence

The interior of Sisters Chapel. (Courtesy Spelman)

Spelman College is recognized as a global leader for education with women of African PERSPECTIVES IN descent for its highly ARCHITECTURE regarded academic programs, distinguished alumni, and vibrant student body Melody Harclerode life.

42 | SEPTEMBER 2026

Abolitionists Sophia B. Packard and Harriet F. Giles founded the college in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church. This first class of students included 11 African American women. Rising student enrollment at the seminary prompted the 1883 move to a former U.S. Army Civil War Barracks property in west Atlanta. Years of financial support for their school from businessman John Rockefeller, his wife Laura Spelman Rockefeller, and her family motivated

The Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & The Arts. (Courtesy Tom Harris)

Packard and Giles in 1884 to rename the school as Spelman Seminary. In 1924, the institution officially became Spelman College. The original nineacre seminary campus has expanded to the current 39-acre site in the Atlanta University Center, a consortium Rockefeller Hall on the Spelman campus. (Courtesy John Clemmer Photography | Lynn McGill) of Historically Black Colleges and that includes Sisters Chapel. Universities (HBCUs). Wood-framed Civil Atlanta architects Hentz, Reid and War-era structures have been replaced Adler designed the classical-influenced with a magnificent mix of historical and Sister Chapel. Upon its 1928 completion, modern buildings. Rockefeller Hall, Sisters Sister Chapel was noted as the only facility Chapel, and Mary Schmidt Campbell in Atlanta where seating for whites and Center stand out among these buildings blacks wasn’t segregated. The body of for their history and design excellence. Martin Luther King, Jr. lay in state at the Rockefeller Hall (c. 1886), the oldest chapel on April 6, 1968. Sisters Chapel permanent building at the college, features continues to serve the Spelman College intricate brick detailing and arched community for concerts, convocations, windows on the exterior and a stainedlectures, and special events. glass entry and walnut-stained wood trim Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for in the interior. Once a multi-purpose Innovation & the Arts (c. 2025) greets facility with educational and residential visitors along the Westside entrance of uses, this four-story building now houses the campus. Chicago-based architecture administrative spaces. Rockefeller Hall sits firm Studio Gang, in association with the in the historical quadrangle of the campus Atlanta-based architecture firm GVSA, designed this 82,500 square foot building with dramatic patterned sunshades and screens that shade interior spaces and pay homage to the African diaspora. This building received the 2026 Architecture Honor Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Georgia). Spelman College Director of Facilities Management and Services Art Frazier and his staff are dedicated to restoring and modernizing historical buildings on campus, such as Rockefeller Hall and Sisters Chapel, and adding highperformance, yet contextual new ones. Frazier notes, “We want Spelman College students, faculty, and visitors to see that Detail of the Mary Schmidt excellence is reflected in our buildings as Campbell Center for Innovation & well as our academics.” The Arts. (Courtesy Tom Harris) ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

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Waffle House testing out tacos at some Georgia restaurants introduced the Chicken Fiesta Protein Bowl, featuring chicken from Springer Mountain Farms, in select locations across the country. Last year, the company tested out canned cold brew, only available in Atlanta, and added a temporary 50-cent egg surcharge to the bill. The surcharge was later reversed once egg prices came down. In 2024, Waffle House began offering chicken sausage at certain locations nationwide. The breakfast chain typically launches seasonal dishes throughout the year– namely themed waffles, like last fall’s cinnamon nougat crunch waffle.

Waffle House tacos in the metro area: Atlanta 4532 Chamblee Dunwoody Road Doraville 4375 Tilly Mill Road Norcross 6079 Goshen Springs Road 5365 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. 1586 Indian Trail Road 7044 Jimmy Carter Blvd. 5565 Buford Hwy. Sandy Springs 250 Northridge Road 6445 Roswell Road 8604 Roswell Road Tucker 5996 Lawrenceville Hwy.

Waffle House’s Tilly Mill location in Doraville will feature tacos. (Photo by Sarra Sedghi)

By Sarra Sedghi The Avondale Estates-based, allday breakfast chain is adding tacos to the menu at 45 locations across North Georgia, including more than two dozen of its restaurants around metro Atlanta, WSB Radio reported. The test run features seven tacos: bacon, egg, and cheese; sausage, egg, and cheese; chicken sausage, egg, and cheese;

and ham, egg, and cheese for breakfast; and patty melt, chicken melt, and cheesesteak melt for lunch and dinner. You can order these tacos when dining in at Waffle House, or online for pickup or delivery. However, the tacos are subject to availability, while supplies last. Waffle House does not add new items often to its permanent lineup. Earlier this year, Waffle House

(Courtesy Waffle House)

Fox Theatre opens rooftop Arcade Lounge By Beth McKibben The Fox Theatre enclosed its open-air terrace above the Peachtree Street entrance, transforming the rooftop space into a yearround lounge for members of its Marquee Club. While the Arcade Lounge replaces the partially covered terrace, the Marquee Club’s indoor Conservatory bar and rooftop patio overlooking Peachtree remain intact. With the opening of the new lounge between the two spaces, club members now have two indoor areas, with bar service, to enjoy on evenings they attend shows at the Fox. Atlanta-based firm Lord Aeck Sargent handled the revamp and enclosure of the new lounge space. The firm designed the original Marquee Club, and has worked on other renovations at the Fox. Rachel Bomeli, the Fox Theatre’s chief operating officer, said this latest project

44 | SEPTEMBER 2026

The Arcade Lounge (Courtesy Fox Theatre)

reflects a broader effort to keep reinvesting in the guest experience, including for Marquee Club members. Since it opened in 2018, the Marquee Club has drawn thousands of ticket

holders and members annually, according to a press release. Bomeli said guest expectations have shifted since then, and the theater has adjusted the club’s offerings and physical layout to keep pace with

requests and feedback from members. “The definition of premium experiences is always changing,” Bomeli said. “What guests value today isn’t necessarily what they valued five or 10 years ago. Healthy organizations listen, adapt and continue investing in ways that create meaningful experiences.” A basic Marquee Club membership starts at $650 annually and gives members access and amenities on a specific day. In addition to pre-show food, complimentary water, coffee, and Coca-Cola beverages, and private bars and restrooms, the membership also includes passes to the seven regular season Regions Bank Broadway shows, $160 in food and beverage credit, discounts on wine and the gift shop, and an invite to each season’s members-only kickoff party. People can purchase individual day pass access to the Marquee Club for certain concerts and special events at the Fox. ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Two locations of Hal’s steakhouse will open in Midtown and Roswell

Spring Quarter includes the former H.M. Patterson & Son funeral home. (Photo by Seamus Payne)

By Sarra Sedghi A location of Buckhead restaurant institution Hal’s “The Steakhouse” will open in Spring Quarter in Midtown, with another location planned for downtown Roswell. Both of the new Hal’s locations will open next spring. In Midtown, Hal’s will take over the Patterson House space, formerly home to the H.M. Patterson & Son Spring Hill Chapel funeral home on Spring Street. Spring Quarter developer Portman Holdings previously announced that restaurateur Steve Palmer of Indigo Road Hospitality would bring a “morning-tonight [food and beverage] destination” to the nearly century-old H.M. Patterson building. That restaurant never materialized. With Hal’s on board, all of the restaurant spaces at Spring Quarter have been leased.

architecture outside do much of the work. Hal Nowak opened his eponymous steakhouse in Buckhead in 1989. One of the first in a neighborhood now known for its steakhouses, Hal’s stands as one of Buckhead’s dining institutions, alongside Aria, La Grotta, Chops Lobster Bar, and Johnny’s Hideaway. Midtown will become the third location of Hal’s in Atlanta. A second location opened two years ago in Nashville. And the steakhouse will expand again next spring with a location planned for downtown Roswell. Jimenez said that following Nowak’s retirement, he prioritized expanding Hal’s. That decision provided the framework for Nashville, and later for Midtown and Roswell.

The Roswell location, just a few doors down from Little Alley Steak at the corner of Canton Street and Elizabeth Way, will include a rooftop patio and valet parking. Jimenez called valet parking a “deal-maker” for people traveling to eat at Hal’s in Roswell. Portman Holdings broke ground on Spring Quarter in 2022. A number of restaurants are now open at the development, including rooftop lounge Celestia, omakase restaurant Ishin, Mexican restaurant Habaneros, and Japanese restaurant Sozou. Indian fine dining restaurant Pataaka should open in the coming months. Beyond its restaurants, Spring Quarter also features the Sora residential tower and an office tower flanking the Connector.

architect Philip T. Shutze and built in 1928. It’s best known as the location of the H.M. Patterson & Son Spring Hill Chapel funeral home, which closed in 2020. Jimenez said the Midtown location of Hal’s will be unlike any other restaurant in Atlanta. With 24,000 square feet to fill, the steakhouse will feature a patio, cafe and coffee shop, and a fine art gallery on the second floor. Art from Jimenez’s separate venture with curators Alex Soto and Andres Rodriguez will rotate on the walls throughout the gallery, which will also host cocktail hours and private events. What to expect

The coffee shop will open in the morning serving some breakfast dishes, followed by lunch at the European-style cafe. While the cafe menu has yet to be finalized, Jimenez said people can expect simple, yet well-done dishes. Later in the day, Hal’s transforms again for dinner, serving steak, seafood, pasta, and its Deciding to expand popular Caesar salad. Hal’s owner Sammy Jimenez said the Jimenez tapped Maison Malueé’s María history of the Patterson House was part of Domínguez, a longtime Hal’s customer, to the allure of expanding to Midtown. By handle the design. pairing an iconic building with an iconic “I always like to do business with the restaurant, “history will meet history,” people that support us,” he said. “We are Jimenez told Rough Draft. going to keep the essence of the concept, Patterson House was designed by which is the greens, the browns, the wood. The building is very special and we’re going to have to adjust and adapt to that.” The plan is to preserve much of the French finishings and to let the ornate design details inside and English Vernacular Rendering of the bar at Hal’s in Midtown. Revival

SEP 16

Violinist Joshua Bell performs with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

OCT 1/3/4

Opening Weekend with Nathalie Stutzmann

OCT 8/10

Brahms + Wagner

Brahms Revealed: Symphony No. 1

Brahms Revealed: Symphony No. 3

(Provided by Hal’s “The Steakhouse”)

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SEPTEMBER 2026 |

Spring Quarter adds sushi, family style Indian restaurants By Beth McKibben

Courtesy Sozou

Chef Fuyuhiko Ito opened the last of his three restaurants at the Spring Quarter development in Midtown, taking over a ground-floor space at the Ten Twenty Spring office tower. Called Sozou, the Japanese restaurant includes a sushi bar and robatayaki dishes cooked over binchotan charcoal on a robata grill. Look for an assortment of sushi, including sousaku nigiri, along with larger entrees such as a grilled branzino served whole and cooked to order. A dressed avocado salad, a staple on all of Ito’s menus, is also available at Sozou. For dessert, pastry chef Lisa Ito offers a parfait comprising vegan coconut ice cream, guava sauce, pineapple confit, four flower sorbet, and macadamia nut brittle. Sozou joins two other Ito-backed restaurants at Spring Quarter: Celestia, a rooftop cocktail lounge with sweeping views of Midtown, and ISHIN by Ito, a 16-seat omakase room. Both restaurants are located

on the eighth floor of Ten Twenty Spring. Other Spring Quarter restaurants ISHN, Sozou, and Celestia are part of a tight collection of restaurants now open at or planned for Spring Quarter. Mexican restaurant Habaneros opened in June, while family-style Indian restaurant Pataaka, from Chef Anish Nair, opened this weekend. A third location of Buckhead steakhouse Hal’s will open next year in the former Patterson House space (read more on Page 45) at Spring Quarter, rounding out the restaurant lineup at the development. Atlanta-based developer Portman Holdings broke ground on Spring Quarter in 2022. The development encompasses the Sora residential tower, Ten Twenty Spring office building, and the Patterson House, formerly home to the historic H.M. Patterson & Son Spring Hill Chapel funeral home on Spring Street. Sozou (sozouatl.com), 1020 Spring St., Midtown. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Dress code: smart elegant. No athletic wear.

NoriFish and Okiboru open at Ponce City Market

Okiboru (Courtesy JETPVCK Media)

By Beth McKibben Locations of sushi restaurant NoriFish, known for its hand rolls and fresh seafood from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market, and ramen and tsukemen restaurant Okiboru are now open at the Ponce City Market food hall. The two new stalls take over the former Miso Ko and Ton Ton Ramen Bar spaces, which closed in January after a decade at the market. Restaurateur Justin Lin and Chef Sean Park founded Okiboru in New York in 2018. Since then, the pair have expanded

46 | SEPTEMBER 2026

the restaurant to multiple locations in New York and metro Atlanta, including Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Duluth, Mall of Georgia, and Kennesaw. Park opened NoriFish in Sandy Springs four years ago, followed by a location in Buckhead in 2025. The menus Expect a smaller, tighter menu at NoriFish built specifically for the Ponce City Market location. The menu features made-to-order hand rolls and Japanese small plates, along with sake, Japanese beers, wine, and cocktails from the bar. Over at Okiboru, look for ramen and

NoriFish hand rolls. (Courtesy Gabe Viloria of JETPVCK MEDIA)

tsukemen (dipping noodles), as well as a selection of rice dishes and appetizers. The bar offers cocktails, sake, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages like tea. Food hall turnover Ponce City Market’s food hall opened in 2015, just three years after the official debut of the Eastside Beltline, which runs beside the former Sears, Roebuck and Co. building. As those leases expired, many of the original restaurant stalls closed, allowing for new stalls and a brand new wing to open at the food hall. New additions now push the food hall past 25 restaurants and stalls, serving

everything from Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Vietnamese fare to Italian, Thai, Persian, Chinese, and Korean food. Okiboru and NoriFish join three new food stalls backed by Dinh Tran and Khanh Dang, the husband-wife team behind VIÊTVANA, cocktail lounge and listening room La Cueva, and Thai street food restaurant Terminal 26. Earlier this spring, Three Taverns Brewery opened Ponce Brew Terminal on the ground floor of Signal House next to Ponce City Market. The brewery, distillery, and taproom serves barbecue from DAS BBQ. ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

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SEPTEMBER 2026 |

REAL ESTATE

South Downtown shifts focus from redevelopment to establishing a neighborhood

A view of Hotel Row/Mitchell Street in 2024 looking west toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Provided by SoDo ATL)

By Logan C. Ritchie South Downtown flooded with more than 40,000 visitors in June and July during Atlanta’s run as a World Cup host city, reinvigorating an overlooked neighborhood four blocks from the Georgia state capitol. After two-plus years of renovations, construction, and courting new businesses and restaurants, the developers of South Downtown plan to turn their attention to attracting residents and building on the neighborhood’s forward momentum. Business owners who invested in the neighborhood are on board, telling Rough Draft they’re “in it for the long haul.” With the World Cup in the rearview mirror, Jon Birdsong, CEO of SoDo ATL, the real estate company behind South Downtown, said they’re wrapping up Phase I of the development. Their next move is to “let the market marinate,” before pulling the trigger on Phase II. Establishing a neighborhood Covering a 10-block swath of downtown Atlanta, the redevelopment of South Downtown is due, in part, to a $140 million investment by venture capitalist and entrepreneur David Cummings. His investment is in addition to an active neighborhood association and millions of dollars from the city. Cummings’ investment is going toward

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converting buildings – many historic, turn-of-the-century – into 140 housing units and office and retail spaces. “Phase I was everything related to attracting and establishing tenants,” Birdsong told Rough Draft. “We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the neighborhood, and we have restaurants open, but we also have several places that need to be leased out.” Birdsong attracted attention last month when SoDo ATL unexpectedly laid off four full-time employees who oversaw specific project sites, then announced they were scaling back to get South Downtown to a more “sustainable state,” as first reported by SaportaReport. The move came as a surprise to many Atlantans, especially considering that 25 of the 58 historic buildings, and only 8% of the surface parking lots acquired by SoDo ATL, are in development. “We still have a lot of work to do. It is not yet a 24/7, thriving neighborhood, but we know that. We know it’s going to take time, and we are committed,” said April Stammel, who handles SoDo ATL marketing and engagement. Birdsong said ensuring the businesses and restaurants are thriving is “goal number one” for the first phase of South Downtown. Current tenants include Brewhouse Cafe, Delilah’s Everyday Soul, Broad Street BBQ, Glide Pizza, El Tesoro, Bottle Rocket, Spiller Park Coffee, The Junction, and Tyde Tate Kitchen. Specialty retailers

like KMM & Co., Brown Toy Box, vinyl store Crates ATL, and Village Books also found space in South Downtown. Food festival Smorgasburg Atlanta takes over the parking lot between Mitchell Street and Trinity Avenue every weekend. New restaurants Ida’s Kitchen Counter and Mule Train should open in August, and Estrellita should open this winter. Birdsong and Cummings purchased the South Downtown redevelopment project from German developer Newport RE in 2023 after the company’s investor funding collapsed and it was forced to sell its real estate portfolio. SoDo ATL picked up where Newport left off. Atlanta Tech Village (ATV), coowned by Birdsong and Cummings, is one of the largest hubs for the start-up tech community. ATV opened a second location in January 2025 on Mitchell Street in the former Sylvan Hotel. “We chose to put our second Atlanta Tech Village location in South Downtown not because it was the easy thing to do, but because it was the right thing to do. Downtown needs entrepreneurship and innovation,” Cummings wrote on X. Lobbying firm Ohio River South established a neighborhood office long before the World Cup. AI marketing technology company AdPipe moved its headquarters to South Downtown in September 2025 and raised $12 million, with a goal to grow from 35 employees to 50 by the end of 2026. Pediatric healthcare company Dr. Noze Best, a product of the Atlanta tech community, relocated its headquarters to South Downtown in October 2025. Birdsong and his team didn’t just court these businesses, he said, they also helped build out physical locations. He called the two-year effort “a heroic lift” by current and future tenants and the SoDo ATL team. The businesses are committed to the neighborhood, signing 10- and 20year leases, Birdsong added. “We have been very forthcoming from the beginning that this is a longterm endeavor. This was never meant to be a two-year fix of a neighborhood that hasn’t gotten attention for a long time. I think we’ve done an incredible job. I’m so proud,” Stammel said. Restaurant owners weigh in Spiller Park Coffee founder Dale Donchey, who opened a Mitchell Street location in 2024, said Atlanta’s hosting bid for the World Cup had not been announced when he signed the lease. Donchey’s coffee shop was the

second food-related business to open in South Downtown, following Tyde Tate Thai Kitchen. He and other tenants signed on because they believed in the neighborhood. “There was always going to be longevity for me to be there, so I’m in it for the long haul,” Donchey said of Spiller Park’s South Downtown location. Like several South Downtown restaurants, Broad Street BBQ opened right before the World Cup and the foot traffic that came with it. Co-owner Jason Furst said during a match week, the restaurant could generate $2,000 one day, and $20,000 the next. Furst is realistic about the ebb and flow of South Downtown, where football games, concerts, and other big events at nearby Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena often drive foot traffic to the area. “What I’m more interested in is [getting] 2,000 people down there every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Furst said. “I want a neighborhood.” Donchey agreed that South Downtown’s viability lies in residential density. He told Rough Draft that until enough people live in the neighborhood, business owners will “yo-yo” their hours. “It cannot be people who work there and leave [every day]. You’re not going to get restaurant life that way,” Donchey explained. Housing is key According to Birdsong’s online posts, limited data shows that if housing is built downtown, people will move there. “We’re transitioning from a phase of building at all costs, which we’ve done for the past two and a half years, to maximizing operational efficiency. It’s going to be like this for the next 50 years in South Downtown,” Birdsong said. “There’s going to be times when there are cranes and development and buildings under construction, and then there are going to be times where we need to see how the market marinates.” It may take time, but it’s also going to take leased apartments and commercial spaces. Birdsong believes “there’s tremendous momentum” right now in the rental market. SoDo ATL has 11 commercial units on Broad Street for lease, only two of which are occupied. Six of 26 available residential units have been rented at 85 Peachtree St., the former Bass Dry Goods building, listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, which cannot be ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS

Photographer: Brian Hall Photography | Designers: Angelique Baez, ViviCo Interiors + Michael C. Morris, M. Crisler Designs

Pedestrians walk down Broad Street on opening weekend of South Downtown. (Photo by Beth McKibben)

torn down. Birdsong said the units have been actively marketed for less than a month online. The 85 Peachtree website offers in-person tours of available units. There are 14 floor plans for studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom residences at the newly renovated 85 Peachtree. Studio apartments range from 640 to 654 square feet and cost between $1,825 to $1,950 per month. Two-bed, two-bath units range from 853 to 1,222 square feet and rent for $2,500 to $3,500 per month. Compared to other in-town neighborhoods, rent at 85 Peachtree per square foot is less expensive than Midtown, but more expensive than neighboring Castleberry Hill. “We’re not going to go build more housing if we can’t lease out the 26 [units] that we just spent $28 million creating,” Birdsong said. Strategies to market the neighborhood involve Central Atlanta Progress (CAP), a

private, nonprofit organization that plans and promotes downtown Atlanta through events, newsletters and social media. Stammel said the events calendar offering movie nights, neighborhood festivals and other special events on wFounder’s Green in South Downtown is coming soon. Beyond the calendar of events planned, no other details were provided to Rough Draft on SoDo ATL and CAP’s marketing strategies for South Downtown going forward. “The majority of Atlanta still hasn’t heard of South Downtown, and the majority of Atlanta still hasn’t been to South Downtown, and so it’s just going to take time,” Birdsong explained. “It’s going to take programming… You don’t turn the light switch on and everybody comes. It takes real community embracing [the neighborhood] and it takes real time for people to experience it,” he continued. Sarra Sedghi contributed to this report.

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