Restored storefronts on Hotel Row in South Downtown Atlanta with the Georgia Capitol dome in the distance

We Wired South Downtown Atlanta’s Comeback

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A historic district comes back to life

On May 20, 2026, Governor Brian Kemp and Mayor Andre Dickens cut the ribbon at Founders Green, a half-acre pocket park built from an old parking lot on Broad Street. “Downtown is back, Atlanta!” the Mayor said. That was the public moment for South Downtown, a roughly 16-acre, 58-building historic district just southwest of Five Points MARTA that is being brought back to life.

These are early 1900s buildings, more than a century old. Broad Street was a market and retail corridor. Hotel Row on Mitchell Street served Terminal Station, which opened in 1905. The district fell quiet after Terminal Station came down in 1972, and that decline is part of why the old facades were still standing to save. Atlanta Ventures, founded by David Cummings and Jon Birdsong, took over the assembled portfolio in 2024 and put the revival back in motion. Phase One was timed to open ahead of Atlanta’s 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.

We ran the wire behind Phase One

Restaurants and shops get the ribbon-cutting. Before any of that happens, someone has to pull the wire that makes the buildings work. That was our part. We ran the inside wiring for most of Phase One, the copper and the inside plant fiber the systems ride on, and we set the devices alongside it, including the security and access-control devices. If a space opened in Phase One, there is a good chance we helped with the wiring or the deployment.

A lot of that went in before the tenants did. We ran the wiring for the future residential units and the move-in-ready spec spaces before anyone knew who would sign for them, so a space could go from empty shell to open business without ripping the walls back open.

Historic Broad Street storefronts mid-revitalization with work crews in South Downtown Atlanta
Broad Street mid-revitalization: crews working the century-old storefronts. Photo courtesy of JHC.

Every wall has a surprise in it

Running modern cable through century-old construction is not the same job as wiring a new build. The walls were put up before anyone thought about a network drop or a camera feed. Every wall has a surprise in it. You plan a clean path, you open it up, and you find something nobody documented a hundred years ago. Getting a clean, code-correct install into these buildings without tearing up the historic character is most of the work, and it is why you want people who have done it before.

The tenant work

The work ran from the campus down to the individual spaces. For El Tesoro, Glide, and Broad Street BBQ, we handled the cabling that ties the space to the campus and to the systems inside it: campus Wi-Fi, the demarc extension into the tenant, and the cameras. At Brewhouse Cafe, we ran the cabling inside.

For Bottle Rocket, Mule Train, and Delilah’s Everyday Soul, we did the fuller build:

  • Structured cabling throughout the space
  • Internet connectivity with failover, so the space never goes dark
  • Business Wi-Fi and the full network stack
  • Alarm and security, including cameras and intrusion
  • Audio/visual

El Tesoro, Glide, Broad Street BBQ, Brewhouse Cafe, and Bottle Rocket are open. Mule Train and Delilah’s are signed, wired, and opening soon.

Working the campus and the tenants at once

A buildout like this has a lot of moving parts, cabling, cameras, alarm, AV, internet, and the carriers, all on their own schedules. What let us keep it moving is that we worked at both levels: with the campus development and down into the individual tenant spaces. When the same crew is running the inside wiring and setting the devices, the work lines up with the buildout instead of fighting it, and a space can open on its date.

A district worth getting right

South Downtown is a real comeback, block by block, building by building. Getting to run the wire behind Phase One of that is the kind of work we are proud to put our name on. There is more of the district still to come.

Featured photo: South Downtown’s Hotel Row, restored storefronts with the Georgia Capitol dome in the distance. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

Building something? Bring us in early.

The cheapest time to get the technology right is before the drywall goes up. Once the walls are closed, every change costs more and takes longer. If you are building out a restaurant, a retail space, or an office, get us in during design and we will make sure the infrastructure is ready when you are.

Email solutions@justinhallconsulting.com and get us in the room during design.