Barbecue and Coffee Part of the Renewal Plans for Two Properties Overlooking Piedmont Park

A new counter-service restaurant from Das BBQ and coffee shop PMA Coffee, from the team behind pop-up Tic Tac Coffee, open across from Piedmont Park in Midtown next year as part of a collaborative space called 12th and Everything.

Located at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and 12th Street, 12th and Everything encompasses two buildings facing the entrance to the park, including an old filling station currently home to iconic Atlanta skate shop Skate Escape. Skate Escape not only remains on site, but is part of the expansion plans for the two properties.

Possibly called Das BBQ Cantina or Das Cantina, owner Stephen Franklin says the restaurant takes over the building at 1084 Piedmont (where Skate Escape now resides). Renovations to the building include the addition of a shared rooftop dining terrace overlooking the park that seats around 50 people. Meanwhile, PMA Coffee, Skate Escape, and a conference room sponsored by solar energy company Cherry Street Energy open in the building next door at 1086 Piedmont. A canopy connects the buildings and covers the new dining terrace.

The design for 12th and Everything, handled by Atlanta architecture firm Smallwood, also calls for preservation of certain historic elements from the existing buildings, with any added design features mirroring the initial aesthetic of each. Stone accents on the outside of the restaurant are inspired by the Piedmont Park bathhouse, and new brick will reflect the same style and color of bricks currently on both buildings. The use of potted plants, vines, and shrubbery acting as a fence should give 12th and Everything a residential and familiar feel to blend into the neighborhood.

“What makes this location special for us at Das BBQ is that it’s part of a bigger team of people driven by the need to help improve the community and to be part of the community,” Franklin says. “It aligns with our vision of preserving traditions, while embracing the future.”

Unlike the Das BBQ locations in Grant Park and Underwood Hills, the new restaurant won’t smoke meats on site or include a smoker on the property, but rather focus on barbecue sandwiches, Tex-Mex-style nachos, and vegetarian options like corn avocado tacos. Franklin says everything served on the menu in Midtown is easily portable, whether people are heading upstairs to the rooftop terrace above the restaurant, sitting elsewhere on the property, or taking food to the park. The restaurant will offer seating for 49 people inside.

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“Atlanta is very important to me and worth investing in,” says PMA Coffee owner Danielle Glasky, who is the general manager of 12th and Everything and founder of Tic Tac Coffee. Glasky previously worked for Spiller Park Coffee and Octane in Atlanta. “Midtown is really interesting because we have a lot of chain coffee shops and other businesses … The residents of Midtown really care about independently owned businesses.”

Part of the thought process behind 12th and Everything is to create a space the entire community can enjoy. “Not everyone in the neighborhood roller skates or skateboards,” Glasky says. “So having these different options — a coffee shop and a casual, counter-service restaurant — made sense.”

Glasky first came to the project when one of the property owners, an old friend, asked whether she could envision a coffee shop coexisting with Skate Escape. With Tic Tac Coffee popping up in the parking lot of Skate Escape over the last year, Glasky’s relationship with the owners became more involved and evolved from potential tenant to a project leader.

Smallwood

Glasky has worked in coffee since 2005, but PMA Coffee is her first permanent venture. She’s entertained opening a coffee shop in the past, but wanted to avoid opening in a larger mixed-use development where the shop would end up on the ground floor of a condo complex.

“The idea of being involved in a project that was an adapted reuse project was really interesting to me,” she says.

Skate Escape originally opened at 1086 Piedmont in the 1970s and relocated next door after a fire 10 years ago. It finally “returns home” to its initial location and shares the expanded space with PMA Coffee. Located in the front of the building, PMA Coffee will serve coffee made with beans from North Carolina’s Black and White Coffee Roasters, along with a rotating selection of seasonal drinks and pastries and baguettes from a local baker.

The Tic Tac Coffee trailer, currently popping up at Brick Store Pub in Decatur, eventually moves to Das BBQ in Grant Park and becomes a flex kitchen for pop-up chefs. Glasky also plans to make the trailer available as a kitchen space for events held on the rooftop terrace at 12th and Everything, a shared seating space for Das BBQ, PMA Coffee, Skate Escape, and Cherry Street Energy. Seating for an additional 50 people is scattered throughout the property between the two buildings.

Glasky emphasizes that 12th and Everything is a “concept”— a little bit of something for everybody — rather than a DAS BBQ location that happens to have a coffee shop behind it. “Regardless of where you [patronize] on that corner, there’s a lot of areas where people can convene and collect,” she says.

One of the most unique features at 12th and Everything is its renewable energy source from solar panels installed by Cherry Street Energy on the top and back walls of the 1084 Piedmont building. Cherry Street Energy will open a small office on the property, too. With no parking on the premises, Glasky says 12th and Everything will negotiate parking arrangements with a nearby deck.

“Midtown is really stoked on this because it’s part of driving a greener mission where we’re encouraging folks to come walk to us, utilize the Beltline, utilize [Piedmont] park, enjoy your coffee, and take it somewhere else.”

Updated, September 14, 1:35 p.m.: This story was updated with comments and details from Das BBQ owner Stephen Franklin.