Westside Paper project pivots from empty office space, finds takers

Josh Green

Wed, 01/22/2025 – 10:42

After delivering at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest adaptive-reuse district west of Midtown soon found itself trying to sell ice to Eskimos, as the saying goes, with its heavy emphasis on office space (albeit really cool office space) in a saturated market.

For nearly the first full year after opening, Westside Paper inked not a single office lease.

Developers FCP and Westbridge set out to find a different tactic for stabilizing the 220,000-square-foot remake of a 70-year-old warehouse on the eastern fringes of the Howell Station neighborhood.

With a strategy lead by Atlanta-based commercial real estate vets Bridger Properties, the focus at Westside Paper shifted to larger-format retail tenants, with a specific emphasis on wellness, showroom, and other commercial users.

That shift appears to have paid off.

Westside Paper signed more than 113,000 square feet of new leases in 2024, including with four major tenants, which project reps this week described as a “remarkable feat” in a challenged market “where many projects stalled or reverted to lenders.”

The latest leasing win at Westside Paper is Carbon Performance, a Nashville-based boutique fitness brand that will build a 33,500-square-foot wellness facility described as cutting-edge. It’s scheduled to open this summer.

Courtesy of Westside Paper

Carbon Performance provides strength training, cardio equipment, and classes that include boot camps, Pilates, and yoga, personal and group training sessions, and youth performance programs. Elsewhere, wellness amenities are set to include cold plunges, infrared saunas, and a café with smoothie bar.

Other significant, recent leases at Westside Paper include: a 50,000-square-foot showroom from Construction Resources, a Home Depot company; a 13,000-square-foot event venue called The Dogwood by Atlanta’s largest caterer, Proof of the Pudding; and a 24,500-square-foot padel facility by Brooklyn-based Padel Haus, which project reps call the first of its kind in Atlanta.

“Our team continues to bring best-in-class companies to Westside Paper,” Chris Faussemagne, Westbridge’s managing partner, said in an announcement. “We recognized Carbon Performance’s success in Nashville and saw an opportunity to introduce a comprehensive fitness and wellness offering that’s underrepresented in Atlanta.”

Westbridge noted the gym concept will be complemented by the new Atlanta Beltline spur trail that’s opened alongside Westside Paper, providing a direct, off-street link to downtown and the mainline Beltline loop.

How the new Westside Paper Spur Trail passes behind the mixed-use district (at left) of the same name today, with QTS’ expanded data center at right.Contributed photo

The 15-acre redevelopment at 950 West Marietta St. continued the adaptive-reuse trend west of Midtown started in the nineties with King Plow—located across the street—and continued by projects like Westside Provisions District and more recently The Works.

Meanwhile, the Westside Paper retail lineup includes Dumpling Factory; breakfast hotspot Pancake Social; a traditional taqueria from chef Santiago Gomez called El Santo Gallo; and Ancestral Bottle Shop + Market, a venture by restauranteur Roxana Aguirre that focuses on Mexican spirits and South American wines. Elsewhere, homegrown favorites King of Pops operate a walk-up outpost with pops, soft serve, pop-tails, and slush-tails, plus beer and wine.

Boxcar Betty’s, Bar Diver, Glide Pizza, and the second location of Grant Park’s former Elsewhere Brewing are among Westside Paper concepts that have closed or never opened.

The property currently includes 632 parking spaces. But a section of that might be a placeholder, in that it could be replaced with hundreds of apartments in a future Westside Paper phase, as plans filed with the city in 2022 indicate.

As seen in 2023, the property’s future Beltline spur frontage (below) with evolving Atlanta skylines in the distance.Urbanize Atlanta; 2023

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Images

Courtesy of Westside Paper

How the new Westside Paper Spur Trail passes behind the mixed-use district (at left) of the same name today, with QTS’ expanded data center at right.Contributed photo

As seen in September 2023, how the taller Westside Paper office component stands over retail corridors.