Anyone who has walked Atlantic Station's retail blocks in the past year has seen the gaps: Banana Republic gone, DSW gone, and the Publix that served as the district's only grocery store closed. As of Aug. 1, a new operator is responsible for fixing that. Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Company has taken over all retail management, leasing, and general operations at the 138-acre district, which markets itself as the "Heart of ATL."
Trademark is not a small player. Over the past 30 years the firm has redeveloped, developed, or invested in 24 million square feet, including Galleria Dallas, Annapolis Town Center, and Market Street-The Woodlands outside Houston. Its current portfolio runs to 19 properties with three more developments in the pipeline. Company officials describe their specialties as community programming, what they call artful placemaking, and leasing aimed at brands that resonate with current shoppers.
The name likely to matter most locally is Sean McIntosh, hired as general manager over the 585,590 square feet of retail. McIntosh already ran Atlantic Station once, serving as general manager from 2006 to 2013 before moving on to Jamestown, Oliver McMillan, and other firms. Over the coming weeks he is scheduled to meet with Atlantic Station tenants and with surrounding neighborhoods while Trademark circulates a survey collecting community feedback. The firm also plans to hire an Atlanta-based senior asset manager to give it a permanent local presence.
"Our first step is listening and understanding the community," said Terry Montesi, Trademark's founder and CEO, in the announcement, adding that the company will evaluate the property's strengths and opportunities before deciding how to move it forward. That listening posture arrives after a rough stretch of public sentiment: in an Urbanize reader poll last summer, 74 percent of nearly 750 respondents rated Atlantic Station at three stars or lower.
Not all of the recent news has been bad. In February, owner Hines announced a slate of incoming retail concepts including MINISO and three restaurants, and Nordstrom Rack is set to open in the former DSW space in October. In March, the rankings site Niche named Atlantic Station the No. 1 place to live out of 18,000 neighborhoods nationwide, with Midtown next door landing at No. 6. The district now totals nearly 8 million square feet of mixed-use development, roughly the equivalent of six Bank of America Plaza towers.
Twenty years in, the open question is what the place still lacks, starting with a replacement for the grocery store. New management says it is asking, which puts the burden on residents, workers, and regular visitors to answer while the survey is live.
Original reporting: Urbanize Atlanta (2026-08-10)