The Tourist Traps We Must Give Props To

Hi there, Annie Armstrong here, writing to you from my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, known most prominently as the headquarters of Coca-Cola, Delta, and Outkast. Today, though, I’d like to shine a light on another major corporation based out of Atlanta: Jamestown, the real estate investment firm most notable for buying and expanding Chelsea Market in 2003, but also owning and operating 84 properties globally, including Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, Groot Handelsgebouw in Rotterdam, and Ponce City Market here in Atlanta. 

As my colleague Chris Crowley recently reported, the food hall business model is not a safe bet, neither for vendors nor the proprietors themselves. But Jamestown has found a way to make them work with a vengeance, by buying up grandiose historic properties then securing landmark designations which grant tax exemptions. (Ponce City Market here was previously the Sears Roebuck factory, where my great grandfather worked in the 1950s. Chelsea Market previously housed National Biscuit Company, where Oreos were invented.) Finally, and most importantly, you incorporate retail, office, and residential tenants, all while somehow continuing to position the business as primarily a food hall. It’s a serious undertaking, and Jamestown properties are often credited with completely transforming neighborhoods, if not entire cities, often towards unmitigated gentrification.

Jamestown’s CEO, Matt Bronfman, in a piece with the Atlanta Business Chronicle late last year, acknowledged that, “If you are in the commercial real estate space, the last few years have presented headwinds.” I’d guess that many proud locals of cities around the world would love to see a behemoth like Jamestown cease to exist, but I must give credit where it’s due. Without Chelsea Market, there would be zero locations of Los Tacos No. 1, instead of eight. And without Ponce City Market, my friends in town would mourn Bibi Persian Eatery, the second restaurant from the trendy Nooshé Jān restaurant group, whose first restaurant Delbar has become a hotspot with three locations across Atlanta. 

Anecdotally, both Ponce City Market and Chelsea Market noticeably smell the same: A distinct combination of mingling food smells, dulled by industrial cleaning products. I wonder if other Jamestown food halls, like the ones in D.C., Berkeley, and Charlotte, also carry that same scent.

Anyhow, let’s take a look at some other happenings back in New York, before I pass the mic to writer Dalya Benor, who looked into exactly what, and who, goes into designing a stylish restaurant these days.

In this letter: The new bar the art world will be dropping everything to get into next week, the final piece in The Henson’s holy trinity, and where Flynn McGarry will be cooking next.