Photos: Could this new Atlanta Chick-fil-A qualify as, um, beautiful?

Josh Green

Fri, 12/06/2024 – 13:37

Could it be the most smartly urban, eye-pleasing, standalone Chick-fil-A in metro Atlanta?

That’s a question any reasonable ATL urbanist could ask themselves while feasting eyes upon Chick-fil-A’s next incarnation of a franchise on Ponce de Leon Avenue. (Ideally, yes, in urbanist logic, the restaurant would have trendy lofts or offices mixed in, too.)

In any case, the 777 Ponce de Leon Ave. project is living up to promises of being entirely brick-clad with precisely no drive-thru lanes as construction enters the homestretch in Poncey-Highland, along one of Atlanta’s liveliest commercial corridors.

Chick-fil-A reps tell Urbanize Atlanta they haven’t confirmed an opening date yet for what’s officially called “Chick-fil-A Ponce de Leon,” but they “look forward to sharing more about the restaurant opening soon.”

The Poncey-Highland restaurant marks the company’s second new franchise addition to Ponce, following a controversial drive-thru location that opened just four blocks away in summer 2023.

Chick-fil-A officials have previously told Urbanize the new restaurant will be locally owned and operated, designed to “fit seamlessly into the walkability of the neighborhood, allowing guests to walk directly to the location and dine-in or carry out their meal with ease.”

A look at the brick-clad backside of the 777 Ponce de Leon Ave. building and its parking lot, with Hotel Clermont standing next door. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

How the new Chick-fil-A has incorporated bike parking (at left) along its Ponce facade. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Like a standalone Chick-fil-A in the pipeline on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, the Poncey-Highland location does not feature a drive-thru in any capacity. Plans indicate it will include 41 parking spaces behind the Ponce-fronting building, however.

The longtime home of Dugan’s restaurant and lounge—it closed in 2022 and relocated to Northlake—was razed last year next to the Hotel Clermont and its famed basement lounge. (Chick-fil-A had had the Dugan’s location in its crosshairs since at least 2016.)

Building on the ashes of Dugan’s, however, didn’t come without speed bumps.

Poncey-Highland leaders several years ago created the Poncey-Highland Historic District as means of safeguarding about 260 irreplaceable buildings and establishing guidelines for new development that inevitably would come to the upscale neighborhood.

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Chick-fil-A’s initial plans for the Dugan’s site ran afoul of the new rules in several ways, sending the company back to the drawing board to tweak designs.

By the summer of 2023, Dugan’s old digs were cleared away, setting the stage for new construction. Chick-fil-A’s plans as of August last year called for opening the restaurant sometime this fall, but as a site visit this week proved, a 2025 debut appears more likely now. A banner in front promises, “Delicious is coming soon.”

In the gallery above, find a closer look at how the chicken empire’s latest Ponce plans are coming together—no drive-thru included.

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• Poncey-Highland news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)