For now, the old Skate Escape building
will be a coffee shop.
A new, scaled-back vision has emerged for a Midtown corner that was once home to Atlanta’s oldest skate shop.
The former Skate Escape building near Piedmont Park will be rehabbed into a coffee shop called Old Sol.
It’s the latest plan for the project called 12th & Everything, which was first announced for the property in 2022.
Previous designs had also included a two-story restaurant and retail space for Skate Escape, which ended up closing for good last year.
Danielle Glasky, 12th & Everything's general manager, said the team looked at what it had, “a beautiful 100-year-old filling station,” and decided to transform it into the coffee shop and abandon the other ideas for now.
At one time, the owner of Atlanta barbecue restaurant Das BBQ considered the project for a new concept, but that deal never came together.
“It’s been an interesting time for food and beverage owners to be operating in the city,” Glasky said in an interview. “Coming out of Covid, we’ve seen a lot of our beloved, fellow restaurants have to close their doors.”
The team filed an application for the renovation last week. It is also working with a new architect, DeCarlo Hawker Architects.
The project will bring electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels to the property. Cherry Street Energy is developing the clean energy solutions for the site, Glasky said.
A team of partners led by Cherry Street Energy CEO Michael Chanin had paid $2.65 million for the property in December 2020, according to property records.
“A big element of it is leaning into renewable energy,” Glasky said. “It is a place where you can come and spend time and recharge.”
There's no definitive timeline to open the coffee shop, but the hope is it launches next year, she said.
Glasky is a veteran of Atlanta's coffee scene, having worked at Octane Coffee and Spiller Park Coffee, Atlanta Business Chronicle previously reported. She also founded Tic Tac Coffee, a pop-up coffee truck, and Bat, Bat Soda, a company that makes canned, bubbly coffee and tea drinks.