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Beltline buys defunct Elleven 45 Lounge
The problematic Elleven 45 Lounge, which was closed down earlier this year after a deadly shooting, has now been purchased by the Atlanta Beltline. Here's how it will be used.
ATLANTA - The Atlanta Beltline has purchased the property of the now shuttered Elleven 45 Lounge in Buckhead and plans to convert it into a portion of the trail.
"We had a young lady lose her life and people got shot at this club that should not have allowed guns into the premises. So, they were bad actors and bad operators," said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, describing the violent events at Elleven 45 on Mother’s Day.
When a gunman shot and killed two people and wounded four others.
In August, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge deemed the club a "public nuisance" and shut it down.
Dickens says the city then saw an opportunity.
"We talked to the ownership and said, ‘hey, we want to buy this property so we can complete the beltline trail,’" he said.
It turned out the property sits in an ideal spot for the Northwest Segment 2 of the Beltline trail.
"The Northwest Trail is perhaps the most technically challenging from an engineering and design perspective," said CEO for Atlanta Beltline Clyde Higgs.
He says acquiring this property has given them a golden opportunity to connect the trail to Peachtree Road and make that portion of the trail much more accessible.
"This last acquisition piece was significant because it's going to create a better trail experience from an ADA access perspective of getting access to the Shepherd Center to Piedmont Hospital," Higgs said.
It came at a hefty price tag. Higgs confirms it cost them around $11 million. Much more than the original plan for this section of the trail.
"This was bigger than our original budget. But because we have realized cost savings in other places along the Beltline, we were able to repurpose some of those savings and bring that to an area in order to make sure Buckhead gets a significant investment from the Beltline," Higgs said.
Mayor Dickens says it’s a two-for-one special the city previously could have only dreamed of.
"We got rid of a nuisance, and we're improving the city by putting the Beltline through here. So, you're going to see something amazing come about from this," Dickens said.
It’s a big step forward for one of Atlanta's most ambitious projects.
A project that aims to have much of the trail completed in time for the arrival of the world’s biggest sporting event.
"We will have nearly 18 miles of the Beltline completed before the World Cup arrives in Atlanta in 2026," Higgs said.
He said that will likely not include the portion with the Elleven 45 Lounge property.
He says the Northwest Segment 2 portion will be completed in late 2026 or early 2027.