Renovations coming for vacant Midtown commercial building on Ponce

While work continues on the Ponce City Market, the intersection of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Monroe Drive just a block west of the $180 million renovation of the former Sears & Roebuck building continues to receive makeover plans, too.

In October, Midtown Patch first reported that the Exxon service station at 486 Ponce de Leon was in the process of being replaced by a full-service Shell Food Mart. And less than two weeks ago, Patch broke the news that Fidelty Bank would be moving into the vacated bank space at 494 Ponce de Leon that fronts both Ponce and Monroe.

Now Patch has learned that the Alpharetta-based Shane Investment Property Group is planning to redevelop a roughly 5,500-square-foot commercial space located at 468 Ponce de Leon.

The building, originally built in 1930, sits between Grace United Methodist Church and where the new Shell Food Mart is currently under construction. The decrepit and vacant building formerly housed several tenants including a shoe store and guitar amplifier shop.

“We bought it because we love the location with the growth of Ponce City Market,’’ Emery Shane, president of Shane Investment Property Group, told Patch. “We’re going to turn it into a kind of Virginia Highland type look with beautiful new awnings, new lighting, new signing, new storefronts. Really, we’re going to restore it better than it was when it was new."

The company purchased the building last Fall from its Florida-based owner. The plan is to renovate it for four-to-six tenants, although accommodations could be made if just one tenant desired to move in.

“We’re not looking for a check-cashing place,” Shane said. “We’re looking for more boutique stores and restaurants because we have parking in back. We might even build a deck out in the back for a restaurant.”

Initial renovation plans have been filed with the City with the hopes to begin construction in the coming months. An artist's rendering of the project from Place Maker Design is included with this article.

“We’re investing in this project with anticipation that it will be one of the catalysts to encourage more investment in the area,” Shane said.