South Downtown's long-quiet blocks are showing another sign of life. The Origin Hotel Atlanta, a Wyndham property being carved out of a 1950s office building at 166 Pryor St., has started scheduling hard hat tours and promoting room availability as it aims to open this fall.
The project counts as a rare large-scale, non-governmental investment south of Five Points. When finished, the six-story building will hold 122 guest rooms and suites, a private event space on the top floor, and an onsite restaurant and bar. A project representative told Urbanize Atlanta the Wyndham team is targeting an October opening, with online bookings beginning Oct. 17 and nightly rates running from $151 to $549 — the low end a 265-square-foot single queen, the high end a 700-square-foot premiere suite that sleeps four.
Geography is the pitch. The hotel sits a block south of Underground Atlanta and two blocks west of the Georgia State Capitol, within walking distance of both the Five Points and Garnett MARTA stations. Mississippi-based The Thrash Group paid $16 million for the building two years ago with plans to finish a stalled renovation and convert the offices into boutique lodging, and cited that transit proximity at the time.
Design leans midcentury with local references: high concrete ceilings, exposed brick, and patterned wallpaper featuring Atlanta landmarks, according to the Origin website. A 50-foot art installation in the lobby is described by the developer as a nod to the neighborhood's arts community, and bike rentals will be free for guests. There will also be a retail storefront selling Atlanta-themed souvenirs and gear.
On the food side, an all-day concept called Butter + Scotch has signed on, from the team behind the celebrated Che Butter Jonez in Southwest Atlanta. Owner Detric Fox-Quinlan told Urbanize in April that crews had run into hurdles at the property but that “everything promises to be absolutely beautiful upon completion.” Construction problems have pushed the timeline back more than once.
The building stands at Pryor and Mitchell streets, roughly two blocks east of the stretch of Hotel Row that developer Newport revived before handing its portfolio to foreclosure. Atlanta Ventures has since bought those properties and taken over redevelopment, adding buildings along the way — most recently Concordia Hall, longtime home of Friedman's Shoes. Origin will open into a neighborhood with a new landlord and a slowly filling pipeline, and the hotel joins Origin-brand properties in Austin, Lexington, Baton Rouge, and Red Rocks, with another under development in Kansas City.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published August 2024.
