Ponce neighborhood near City Hall hit by burglaries

A rash of burglaries in recent weeks has plagued businesses in the immediate neighborhood of Atlanta police headquarters in City Hall East.

One business, the Urban Body fitness center and yoga/pilates studio on Ponce de Leon Place, has been broken into four times in the past week alone.

All of the break-ins took place between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., with the thieves breaking through the glass windows, according to Urban Body spokesman Andrew Keegan.

Each time, thieves made off with flat screen TVs, computer monitors and other items, Keegan said.

He said that on the third break-in, early Monday, one of the thieves was cut by broken glass, and police took samples of the blood left behind.

The company operates a fitness studio in one building and a yoga and pilates studio in another building that shares the same parking lot just off Ponce de Leon Avenue.

“We have alarms in both buildings,” but the alarms “did not deter them,” Keegan said.

“We even hired an off-duty cop to sit in the fitness center, so they hit the yoga/pilates studio instead last night,” he said Thursday morning.

In addition to the four burglaries, on May 25,thieves stole copper wiring from the air conditioning units on the roof of the fitness center, causing damage estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.

On May 28, burglars struck the Verizon Wireless store at 650 Ponce de Leon Ave., less than a block from the Urban Body studios.