The Pratt Pullman District is moving forward with another residential component that developers say will meld Hollywood production with intown Atlanta living.

Atomic Entertainment plans to build three new film and TV production soundstages on the historic Kirkwood property wrapped with 250 apartments and retail spaces, with at least 10 percent of the rentals reserved for residents earning no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income.

The idea is that film industry employees might live at the apartments while working at neighboring soundstages, while the rest of the flats would cater to the general public, according to property owner and Atomic cofounder Adam Rosenfelt.

“It’s very unique mixed-use—I don’t know of any other [like this] anywhere in the country,” Rosenfelt wrote to Urbanize Atlanta via email.

Historic structures on the 27-acre property in 2019, prior to recent construction. The new soundstages are expected to rise on open land at the bottom right corner. Google Maps

The apartment-wrapped soundstages, per Rosenfelt, will rise between the 27-acre site’s historic, protected buildings and the 354 rentals Alliance Residential Company is building now at the Pratt Pullman District’s southern end.

The new buildings will share a large, underground parking garage with the Alliance project and anyone visiting commercial spaces or other attractions onsite. About 10,000 square feet of retail space will be built alongside the soundstages.

Rosenfelt said renderings aren’t ready to share, but that designs for the mixed-use soundstages will nod to metal-clad industrial buildings on site from the 1960s, as the brick-built Alliance apartments are meant to echo the iconic former factory structures on the site’s north end. Brock Hudgins Architects is designing both projects.

Rosenfelt said the soundstage component will be built in 2022. The Atlanta Urban Design Commission approved the project this month, so long as it abides by affordability requirements and provides off-street bicycle parking within the new parking structure, among other conditions, per a meeting agenda.

Meanwhile, Pratt Pullman District’s first public-accessible area —a “movable alcohol park” built on historic rail lines uncovered across the property—is expected to debut May 19, coinciding with the opening of Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, which is being held at the property until at least the end of 2021.  

This central park design is planned just beyond where the Rail Park's first phase will stop.Courtesy of Atomic Entertainment

Called the Historic Rail Park at Pullman Yard, the project is expected to feature five stationary shipping containers on wheels serving a variety of drinks.    

The Rail Park’s first phase will run from the CSX line spur at the northwest corner of the site for roughly a block and ½, parallel to Rogers Street, ending next to a large white structure that’s been used for movie production and film screenings. It’ll be operated by the crew behind Abby Singer, the district’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant, which is also expected to debut with the Van Gogh spectacular. 

A masterplan for the Rail Park and surrounding site was compiled by James Corner Field Operations, the firm behind New York City’s High Line, Rosenfelt said earlier this month.

The Pullman site activated for an open-air chef's market in September where the Rail Park is scheduled to open next month.Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

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