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Business & Tech

The Emergence of West Midtown

"The neighborhood really supported us and wanted us to stay. There were a lot of people that came everyday to make sure we made it." - Octane owner Tony Riffel

If you enjoy fine dining or good coffee and live in the Atlanta area, chances are you’ve been to West Midtown recently, even if you didn’t necessarily know your exact location on the map at the time. West Midtown has recently emerged as one of the hippest areas in Atlanta and features the aforementioned fine dining, as well as a plethora of creative businesses, retail establishments and more. Chances are, if you haven’t been to West Midtown, you’ve at least heard of a business or two there.

It is certainly hard to argue with the success of West Midtown, but just how did this area emerge as one of the hottest spots in Atlanta? While Internet giant Facebook recently took up residence there, it truly got its start with two key businesses — Octane coffee shop and Nebo, a cutting-edge marketing and design firm. Octane owner Tony Riffel said he took a chance with West Midtown in 2003. After checking out other areas, Riffel fell in love with the artistic energy that seemed to be gathering there.

The southern portion of West Midtown area is loosely bounded by Howell Mill Road, Marietta Street, Brady Avenue and 10th Street, and consists of 16 neighboring buildings occupied by more than 40 businesses. Once the hub of the railroad yards, farming products and livestock from rural areas were sent there to be processed and distributed after the Civil War. In fact, many of the receiving buildings adjacent to the original tracks still stand but were converted to luxury retail space.

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The buildings which were slaughter houses and food storage eventually were taken over by the furniture industry. Some of the best and oldest companies showcasing goods for the home and office are still located in West Midtown in the newly renovated historic buildings. Much of the warehouse space in the area, though, now houses all types of creative businesses. These include Facebook, Scout Mob, Mailchimp and Nebo, as well as top restaurants like Bocado, Five Seasons, and West Egg. The area features upscale retailers, art galleries, and residential units serving a young professional demographic as well.

As busy as the area may be now, Riffel described the area as “really quiet” for a few years upon first opening. The only other business that shared the building with Octane was a carpet store only open to contractors and designers.

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“People thought we were nuts to open on 10th Street. The neighborhood was still a little rough then.”

Nebo CEO Brian Easter said that he decided to locate his business in West Midtown after a visit to Octane in 2006 and seeing the potential in the area. It didn’t take long for other, similar businesses to follow suit.

“In a sense, Nebo and other companies helped prod along the area's growth. The more businesses, the more services — and these knowledge-based businesses, high end restaurants, and art galleries have all fed off each other,” Easter said. “Georgia Tech is also a stone's throw away. Fifty-percent of our company has connections to Georgia Tech. There is a definite reciprocal relationship going on between the proximity to Georgia Tech and these technology/marketing businesses.”

Riffel said that he always strived to make Octane the “central hub of activity” for West Midtown. Indeed, Octane has become that and more, serving as the preliminary office for successful West Midtown businesses like Mailchimp and Scout Mob. 

“Scoutmob started at Octane. They [the owners] were coming in everyday trading ideas. It was their original office,” Tony said. “Its really great to see how far those guys have gone in this amount of time.”

Octane itself has gone on to great success and have expanded to two more locations at Grant Park and the Bank of America building.

“The neighborhood really supported us and wanted us to stay. There were a lot of people that came everyday to make sure we made it. I really owe a lot to them for getting us through because it took a few years get going,” Riffel explained.

But is there such a thing as too much growth? Riffel thinks that it will all balance out in the end. There is only so much available real estate, he said, and the integrity of the area is always maintained.

“The more stuff that comes in the busier we all get,” Riffel said. We are mostly independent and local and there is not a big push for chains and franchises. We’ve grown up together and all have similar ideas and goals.”

It is hard to argue with the successful community and creative based business model West Midtown has implemented. The area has flourished during the recession while the rest of Atlanta has suffered from a high unemployment rate and failing businesses. When other companies were laying employees off, Easter said Nebo was hiring more. 

“We’ve grown from two to 38 people from 2004 to 2012,” he said. “Even though residential and business growth stalled everywhere else, we watched as the area grew from a boring warehouse zone to a hip, budding professional and cultural scene.”

Kevin Howarth, Director of Content Strategy for Nebo comes from an economic development background and sees West Midtown as an area that doesn’t get much publicity but has all the right elements in place. Namely a 25-34 demographic; high-wage, knowledge-based jobs; a friendly business-university relationship; and a creative, artistic, sophisticated lifestyle and culture. 

“West Midtown has thrived due to an excess of all of these elements,” Howarth said. These are a collection of assets that entire cities or slices of cities want. Facebook could have chosen anywhere to open an office and they chose West Midtown.”

Ultimately, however, Riffel, Easter and Howarth can all agree that the sense of community among business owners and the people there has much to do with the success of West Midtown.

“There is a really do or die supportiveness to the businesses around here and thats really nice to see,” Howarth said. “It grew very organically and is still growing organically.”

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