Pittsburgh Yard Bridges Black Entrepreneurial Creativity and Commerce

Former slaves founded the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Atlanta in 1883.
Nearly 140 years later, the community remains a haven for Atlanta’s black residents, and the two-year-old Pittsburgh Yard facility is seamlessly intertwined with its surrounding neighborhood.

Pittsburgh Yard officially opened to the public in December 2020 and serves as a creative space for Black artists and entrepreneurs to network and grow their businesses together. The facility has 101 office spaces of varying sizes and layouts, which the tenant reserves by paying a monthly rental fee for the duration of his 12-month lease.

The facility’s main hub, the 60,000-square-foot Near Building, is divided into three service wings, all connected by a community space at the center of the facility. The wings, known as the North Wing, South Wing, and West Wing, each host a specific industry category to which companies within the Pittsburgh Yard belong.

The North Wing of the Nia Building houses traditional facilities such as real estate, financial consulting and other business-related businesses. The south wing of the building houses creative tenants from Pittsburgh Yard, where graphic designers, photographers and other artists work on commissioned projects. Located perpendicular to the rest of the Near Building, the West Wing houses Pittsburgh Yard’s industrial-oriented businesses, such as woodworking and embroidery.

Office space rented out by tenants is private, while common areas and community spaces on the property are available to those who obtain a coworking membership of the Pittsburgh Yard Leasing Team. For an interested entrepreneur, paying $50 a month gives him 24/7 access to public spaces at the Near Building. The general public can enter the building and use the common areas free of charge from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays.

The facility also offers a variety of resources available to paying tenants and colleagues, including meeting rooms, a first-floor loading dock to facilitate product shipments, and a 3,500-square-foot roof terrace. His second floor of the Nia building serves as a rentable living space, with five affordable residential suites that are inaccessible without an assigned key.

While much of the complex’s activity will take place within the Near Building, Pittsburgh Yard is working to expand and utilize other land adjacent to the main facility. The mixed-use development has five pad sites reserved for future expansion, each averaging approximately 1 acre in size. The development is also located next to the Atlanta Beltline Southside Trail, making it prime real estate for future commercial activity.

While the location is making great strides in south Atlanta, property manager Walter Slaton said the management team at Pittsburgh Yards is working to keep the complex alive and prosperous as a single entity, rather than keeping it in the Pittsburgh neighborhood. A prime example of this integration, Slaton said, is the continuation of street names where neighboring roads cross University Avenue and lead to the complex. McDaniel Street becomes McDaniel Yards. Smith Street becomes Smith Yards.

Many of the entrepreneurs working within Pittsburgh Yard praise the development management team for creating an open and friendly commercial space that tenants want to come to work every day.

Lakeysha Hallmon, founder and CEO of The Village Market and Pittsburgh Yards tenant, said the property would be leased because the owners care about their community and work to foster a healthy environment for their customers. said he chose to “You’re not just a tenant,” Hallmon said. You are seen and valued. This is a place where you can really grow.

Photographer Ty Pleas, who rents office space in the Near Building, said the collection of Pittsburgh Yard tenants feels like family, and he recommends this to small business owners looking to be part of the community. I recommend space. alone, [Pittsburgh Yards] not the place for you. Pryce said.

Pittsburgh Yard is also home to non-profit organizations organized from offices in the Nia building. Fathers Incorporated, an organization that teaches black men in the community to be fathers and father figures, occupies two office spaces within the facility.

Gregory Harris and Larry Ritter, members of Fathers Incorporated’s outreach team, said Pittsburgh Yard is a welcoming community that supports and celebrates each other’s entrepreneurial success. “What I love about this place is that we are all family. Everyone loves everyone,” Ritter said. “To stay healthy [work] Environment, what else can you ask for?”