Arden's Garden to Open Downtown Location

January 21,2014

An Atlanta-based juice company is planning a new location at a historic building along Downtown’s Auburn Avenue.

Arden’s Garden will take about 1,250 square feet at the former home of the Atlanta Daily World, the city’s oldest black newspaper.

“We’re very involved, obviously, with Atlanta,” said Leslie Zinn, CEO of Arden’s Garden, a company her mother founded in the 1990s. “Auburn is a very vital area that’s going through a revitalization … This is a perfect fit for us -- to grow along with the changes going on in the inner city.”

Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate just acquired the building at 145 Auburn Ave.

“We will restore the building and bring it back to its former vibrancy,” Kansas said in a release.

Kansas shared with Atlanta Business Chronicle his plans to renovate the nearly 5,000-square-foot structure to include several apartments upstairs and two commercial spaces downstairs.

His hope is to start construction within six months. It could be open by the end of the year.

Gamble + Gamble Architects, the team that’s also working to rehab the Clermont Hotel, will lead the design.

“This building is a time capsule, full of rich surfaces and patinas,” principals Michael and Lee Ann Gamble said in a prepared statement. “Our approach is to preserve this aura, leaving plenty of room for the building to speak clearly about her past.”

The Atlanta Daily World newspaper moved out of the building in 2008 due to severe damage from a tornado.

The building has sat vacant ever since.

In 2012, it narrowly escaped demolition. Integral Group had wanted to redevelop the property, but the Atlanta Urban Design Commission ultimately rejected its proposal.

“I am delighted that this important property will be restored so that we can share their shares for generations to come,” Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall said in a prepared statement.