An indoor farmer’s market spanning nearly 10,000 square feet is set to open next year just outside of Buckhead. The Upper West Market will provide intown residents a nearby selection of locally produced produce, meats and other foods. The new facility is located at 1385 Collier Road just southwest of Buckhead in the former Cagle’s chicken processing plant.
Ben Hautt of Robles Partners, which is spearheading the development, said there are a bevy of food halls in Atlanta, but “no real farmers markets.”
“Atlanta doesn’t have anything like this,” Hautt said. “We have a ton of food halls but no true markets. If you look at most major cities around the world, they have an indoor facility where local producers can sell produce. The best example is Pike’s Place Market in Seattle.”
Pike’s Place Market and London’s Borough Market served as inspiration for Upper West Market, Hautt said, which will make it a “first-of-its-kind” destination in Atlanta highlighting the area’s culinary and agricultural heritage and diversity. Several vendors have already committed to occupying space in Upper West. They include pasture-raised meat producers White Oak Pastures of Bluffton, Georgia, Honeysuckle Gelato, Dips Kitchen, and Summerland Farms.
“I think a lot of us that live in the area, if we are having people over for dinner and we want to cook a really nice meal, where do you go?” Hautt said. “A lot of people would say Whole Foods, and some people may even drive 40 minutes to Dekalb Farmers Market. But with Upper West, they can go to a local market and get grass-fed beef from White Oak Pastures or pick produce to make a salad with ingredients all from a Georgia-grown facility. That fills a need people have to get great local produce while also supporting local farmers and helping to prop them up. Most farmers will attest now it’s difficult with rising costs, inflation, and downward pressure to produce groceries as inexpensive as possible.”
The farmers market will be a component of a culinary hub in the 80,000-square-foot mixed-use development. Summerland Café by Michelin-star chef Anne Quatrano and Hop City Wine Bar are slated to open in spaces adjacent to the farmers market. Novare Events is leasing a 26,000-square-foot event space that includes an outdoor garden. The two-story development will also feature office space and indoor/outdoor seating and an indoor bistro.
Robles Partners said the market will host special events, cooking classes, and seasonal celebrations.
Upper West Market is scheduled to open in summer 2025.
Buckhead’s Atlanta Police Department precinct is seeing a changing of the guard as its current commander has received a promotion to deputy chief.
Andrew Senzer, who has led the Zone 2 precinct since November 2019 with the rank of major, will head APD’s Strategy and Special Projects Division, he announced at an April 7 meeting of the Buckhead Public Safety Task Force.
Major Ailen Mitchell, who has served as Senzer’s assistant since 2020, will be the new Zone 2 commander, Deputy Chief Timothy Peek said in the meeting.
The transition will happen on April 14, according to APD. The current head of the Strategy and Special Projects Division, Deputy Chief Darin Schierbaum, is being promoted to the vacant position of assistant chief of police.
Senzer was Buckhead’s police commander through the historic COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying crime spike, including the May 2020 rioting and looting in local business areas that spun out of Black Lives Matter protests about the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd.
He also led through the beginning of the Buckhead cityhood movement that based itself on crime concerns. While crime spiked, Senzer took a zero-tolerance approach and Buckhead continues to have the city’s lowest crime rate.
“It really has been an honor to serve as the commander of Zone 2,” Senzer said in the task force meeting. “In my 26 years [in policing], this has probably been the most challenging assignment I’ve had.”
He said his new role will be “a little behind the scenes” but that he will “not be a stranger” in Buckhead.
Peek said APD is “ecstatic” about Senzer taking on the deputy chief role.
Mitchell, according to his APD biography, has been with the department since 2006. He previously commanded the SWAT team and, like Senzer, once served on the Red Dog unit, an anti-drug squad disbanded in 2011 after controversial incidents like an illegal raid on the Atlanta Eagle gay bar. Among his other work was the Gang Unit and the Auto Theft Task Force.
Mitchell became Zone 2’s Criminal Investigations Unit commander in 2018 and its assistant commander in 2020.
Zone 2 is headquartered at 3120 Maple Drive in Buckhead Village.
Update: This story has been updated with information from APD about the transition.
The spirit of Buckhead heads forward. This is the way it has been, and perhaps this is the way it will always be. The spirit of Buckhead points forward. You see it in the way we work, and you see it in the way we play. The reach is always extending further. The search is for excellence and beauty and grace and vibrancy.
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