The Atlanta Braves announced on Wednesday the first wave of restaurants that have committed to lease space in the entertainment district next to the new Cobb County ballpark.
The team also said the entertainment district will be called The Battery Atlanta — an old baseball reference to the pitcher and catcher.
The first restaurants are: Antico Pizza; Cru Food and Wine Bar; Tomahawk Taproom featuring Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q; chef Ford Fry’s Superica restaurant; and an-as-yet unnamed new steak concept by chef Linton Hopkins.
Cobb County leaders approved about $368 million in taxpayer money for the $622 million stadium in hopes that being the home of a big-league team would burnish the county’s image and spur development. The county is also banking on big returns in sales and property taxes from the privately owned and financed mixed-use complex.
The restaurants are key to the Braves’ strategy of creating a year-round live, work and play environment around SunTrust Park — and not just during the season. The Braves plan to open the ballpark and the bulk of The Battery’s first phase in time for the opening of the 2017 season.
The Braves previously announced a concert venue, Omni hotel and Comcast as the sole tenant of an office tower to be built on site. About 550 residences are also planned.
Braves marketing chief Derek Schiller said the team expects to land a total of about 20 food and beverage operators and about 40 retailers, though no retailers were announced Wednesday.
Antico Pizza is a favorite of visiting celebrities and is arguably the Atlanta area's hottest pizza restaurant. It recently settled a labor dispute for back wages with the US. Department of Labor and 60 workers for $330,000.
Fox Bros. is among the region’s most popular barbecue joints, and its brewpub collaboration will be attached to SunTrust Park. Fry has emerged as a leading high-end restaurant operator, and the Superica nameplate offers “Mex-Tex” dining. Hopkins’ Holeman & Finch burger is featured at two locations inside the Braves’ current home at Turner Field.
“It’s vibrant, it’s full of life, it’s energetic,” Braves marketing chief Derek Schiller said of the Battery. “It’ll be a destination for Atlanta and unlike anything in the South.”
Fuqua Development, which is leading the retail part of the project for the Braves, has targeted chef-driven restaurants, bars, high-end women’s apparel companies and a grocery store. The team is aiming for flagship stores by new entrants and retailers with few shops in metro Atlanta.
Jeff Fuqua, the firm’s principal, said initial retailers will soon be announced.
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