Krog Street Market + Streetcar

Despite this being my first post, I don't think a personal blog needs much of an introduction.  I have wanted to keep my thoughts organized for awhile now and decided this is as good of a place as any. ---------

I went to the Krog Street Market for the first time today and unfortunately, was not overly impressed.  The Korean Chicken sandwich I had from Fred's was good, but was no better than what I could get from Newk's for less money.  Fred's had other sandwiches (Po' Boy, nearly vegetarian Banh Mi, burger, Porchetta, others) for $9-$12+ as well as a variety of fry options.  The market had other fast-ish food restaurants including Barbecue and a Mediterranean restaurant, in addition to Hop City, a soap store, a pet store, a butchery, and some other sit down restaurants.

My biggest complaints with Krog St. Market are as follows:
1) Practically, it needs more seating.  The building has the square footage for additional seating and tables, yet does not seem to have acquired them.  Perhaps they are going for the it's so awesome and crowded we can't even get a seat feel, but even 10 more seats would have made a significant difference.

2) I was surprised at the high prices at the restaurants/fast food places and the relative obscurity of the shops in the market.  While Inman Park and the O4W are established and closer to simply up than up-and-coming, I was hoping that the assumed lower rent and location of the Krog St. Market would facilitate reasonable reasonable restaurant prices and shops with every-day items.  In addition to relatively higher prices for the sandwiches and barbecue menus I perused, the Krog St. Market also had very specialized shops given the lack of other nearby stores.  I love to smell good and I love animals, but a soap and pet supply shop seem very specialized.  I think local residents would have much preferred something akin to a convenience store of CVS where they can buy frequently used products.  A quick Google search shows the closest such facility in Savi near Barcelona Wine Bar in Inman Park.

Perhaps its my significant lack of commercial real estate or retail knowledge (it is severely lacking), but the word "Market" evokes thoughts of a one-stop shopping experience from days of old.  The Krog St. Market is a one stop soap-pet food-meat-beer shopping experience, which sounds like it would satisfy a very clean bachelor with a dog, but the rest of us need paper towels, deodorant, and other items that the Market doesn't have.  If a more private entity did not want to offer these services, I think the KSM would have been great for something like Wal-Mart's local stores or a similar concept from CVS or Walgreens or any other convenience store.

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The slight disappointment of the Krog St. Market was off-set by the chance to ride the Atlanta Streetcar.  I cannot believe it has been 3.5 years since I was interning for MARTA and working with the City of Atlanta and CAP to plan the route, vehicle characteristics, and payment structure.  Riding today, it was interesting to see which elements made the cut from our long ago discussion.  I am still curious how the fare system and related infrastructure will be implemented, but with the first 3 months of operations free, there is still some time to integrate these systems.

As far as ridership, there were many joy riders taking a loop on the system today, which is to be expected given how long it has been open.  However, I could see that there were already people using the streetcar as last mile connectivity to access downtown.  This seemed especially true for elderly residents and those with strollers.

While riding to the King Center, one can see that there is still ample opportunity for development along the eastern portion of the alignment.  Despite the initial investment, additional construction is needed to achieve Portland-esque success here in Atlanta.  Hopefully sustained ridership and the continued up-tick of the economy will push additional investment near Sound Table and east of the alignment.

Furthermore, it is my hope that this development is well integrated into the existing community.  The Atlanta Streetcar was pitched as a vehicle (pun-intended) that would help unite the Sweet Auburn neighborhood after the Downtown Connector divided one of America's most historic African American neighborhoods.  Atlanta's poor record of razing the old to make way for the new suggests that community leaders should keep a close eye on development plans and permits.

Thanks for reading - go make someone's day!