A rendering of Atlanta Diaries. Image via the redvelopment’s website.

By Christopher Riley, contributor

Atlanta mainstays Big Citizen and King of Pops will be joining forces to open a new restaurant venture in Reynoldstown’s massive Atlanta Dairies redevelopment.

Big Citizen is the restaurant group responsible for upscale midtown joint The Lawrence as well as the hip low-country haunt Bon Ton Boil House on Ponce. The group is also behind Miracle, which since 2015 has taken over the Piedmont Park-adjacent Tapa Tapa space every holiday season to serve over-the-top Christmas-themed craft cocktails.

“Memorial Drive is one of the most exciting streets right now and we love being involved in its evolution,” Darren Carr, a partner at Big Citizen said in a statement. “Designing a new spot that’s distinctly Memorial Drive is what we’ve set out to achieve.”

The second half of the pairing is beloved sweets-slinger King of Pops. Mostly known for their presence in heavily foot-trafficked public places as a friendly face selling delicious and creative popsicles out of a rolling car, the brains behind the operation have their eyes on brand expansion and tackling a new delicious challenge –ice cream.

“Ice cream has been on our mind for quite a while. Years ago, we went to Ice Cream School at Penn State, but the time just didn’t seem right,” Steven Carse, Co-Owner of King of Pops, said in a statement. “When the Atlanta Dairies project popped up less than a mile from our headquarters, it seemed like a sign. We are so excited to help bring Atlanta something fun and completely different!”

Breaking from the standard fare of the Atlanta restaurant scene, the collaboration will hew close to its humble diner inspirations, highlighting “new spins on classic American staples,” according to the market developer’s materials. The diner will share its soon-to-be home with a slew of other retailers, including a café and a throwback-traditional department store.

Decatur’s Three Taverns Brewery also plans to open its second location in the new development, with the new facility functioning as a combination of a testing lab, brewing facility, and a tasting room, according to development materials. Phases of the construction slated for later years will reportedly implement luxury apartments ranging from studios up to the two-bedroom scale.

Overall, the redevelopment of the historic Atlanta Dairies building will consist of “a curated mix of specialty shopping, dining and entertainment venues, all connected by greenspace,” according to the project’s website. The Atlanta Diaries complex is slated to open in the spring of 2019.