BeltLine Developers Plan Beer Gardens for Southwest Atlanta

The Atlanta BeltLine's Eastside Trail has already upped the "hip factor" in Old Fourth Ward and Inman Park, and now developers are foreshadowing a similar boom for Southwestern neighborhoods. Eric Kronberg of Kronberg Wall Architecture tells the Atlanta Business Chronicle a major redevelopment will land some beer gardens along the southern portion of the Westside Trail.

Plans call for the transformation of warehouses on 23 acres into breweries and distilleries with BeltLine-adjacent seating for tastings. "Our challenge is to take these old buildings and make them as cool as possible," Kronberg told the ABC. Kronberg Wall and Stream Realty hope to have the project ready for patrons by 2017, when the Westside Trail is supposed to open. Though considering the BeltLine's history of delays, that opening timeline isn't set in stone.

Ben Hautt, co-managing partner for Stream, told the ABC the project takes inspiration from a beer garden and restaurant along the trail that connects the Southern Methodist University campus to American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. "There's a line there for a mile when the weather is nice," Hautt said. Anyone who's spent time at establishments along the Eastside Trail knows about large masses of humanity on warm days.

The Eastside Trail has spurred major development along its route, including Krog Street Market and Ponce City Market, and it's driven property values through the roof. Ladybird Grove & Mess Hall is the standalone restaurant that has made the most of its BeltLine-adjacent address, drawing crowds with an outdoorsy theme and recently expanding with a new bar in its green space that butts against the trail.