The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hotel and social club open along Beltline
Boutique high-rise offers luxury rooms in Old Fourth Ward.
The busiest section of the Atlanta Beltline now boasts its first boutique hotel, and it’s a high-rise that aims to stand out among the trail’s fast-growing skyline.
The Forth Atlanta opened last month at 800 Rankin St. NE, and the $150 million building makes a striking impression. Rising 16 stories above Historic Fourth Ward Park, the hotel’s glassy walls and diamond-patterned concrete supports present a unique facade along the Beltline’s packed Eastside Trail. Its interior is packed to the brim with eclectic detours.
A rooftop bar is themed after a 1970s’ Italian disco. Inside Il Premio, the hotel’s Italian steakhouse and piano bar, the walls feature a painting depicting a historic horse race in Siena. A social club room features a curated record collection to tempt members to chat while perusing vinyl.
Jim Irwin, president of developer New City Properties, rattled off inspirations during a tour, highlighting how a rustic sitting room’s fireplace was built first to accommodate the five-story chimney’s flume. Several art pieces throughout the building, including a display of foxes in front of a mountain vista, are homages to some of his inspirations.
“It’s sort of like Wes Anderson mashed up with the Natural History Museum,” he said of the atmosphere the Forth is trying to cultivate.
Many of the hotel’s amenities and features are linked to an attached social club, which Irwin said is a core tenant of the Forth’s identity. Membership for the club hasn’t opened yet, but Irwin said thousands have shown interest and are on a waitlist.
He didn’t disclose the price of membership, although he said he isn’t competing with “great country clubs around here that have six-figure membership fees.” Instead, he emphasized that the Forth’s social club is designed to buck the exclusive aura of many private clubs.
“There’s so much hubris in that world,” Irwin said of hospitality. “... We wanted to try to embody that idea of going forth together as a community.”
The hotel is part of New City’s Fourth Ward district, which also includes the 18-story Overline Residences apartment tower and a set of glass office buildings that house the headquarters of email marketing company Mailchimp’s. The four buildings share an underground parking deck with nearly 2,000 spaces.
Irwin is a veteran of Beltline development. He previously worked with Jamestown on Ponce City Market. He later branched out with his own firm in New City, developing 725 Ponce, an office tower over a new Kroger.
New City paid $34 million in 2019 to buy the 12-acre plot from Georgia Power for the Old Fourth Ward project.
The Forth consists of 196 rooms, which includes 39 apartment-style rooms for extended stays. Amenities include an outdoor pool, fitness center, multiple saunas and steam rooms, a ballroom with a capacity of 350 and four food and beverage concepts.
Randy Cook, co-founder of Method Co., is managing the Forth’s operations, and he said the restaurants offer a variety of cuisines. Il Premio, the Italian steakhouse, is complemented by a similarly themed cafe and bar, while Mediterranean-inspired poolside restaurant Elektra and a rooftop cocktail lounge are meant to provide different vibes.
Cook said Forth’s location in a walkable part of Atlanta provides a huge advantage.
“Living adjacent to the Beltline is a game changer,” he said. “There couldn’t be a better neighborhood or a better city to launch this project.”
The project is New City’s first hotel, and Irwin said it was an easy decision to favor a boutique offering rather than partnering with a large hospitality operator. He said he wanted full architectural control of the building to craft a unique vision, recruiting the assistance of Stokes Architecture + Design. He also wanted to preserve his team’s vision for a more approachable social club.
“The intention is it’s not a club for people who make a lot of money,” he said, adding that there will be special membership rates for working artists, nonprofit employees and municipal workers. “It’s for everyone.”