Midtown's Southbound Corridor Is Turning Into a Dinner Street

Midtown Alliance calls Spring Street "one of Midtown's major southbound corridors," a road that connects SCAD and the Center for Puppetry Arts. For most people who live nearby, it has been a road to drive down. Over the past three months it has also become a place to eat, from Spring Quarter at 10th Street to a new steakhouse a block below 17th. The newest openings sit right where the city's rebuild of Spring Street begins.

The open restaurants are grouped at the two ends of that stretch. The blocks between them are next to change.

Spring Quarter at 10th Street

Spring Quarter is Portman Holdings' mixed-use development at 1020 Spring St NW. It includes the Sora residential tower and the Ten Twenty Spring office tower. Four of its places are open in the evening, and two of them opened within days of each other in August.

Pataaka is the Hindi word for "firecracker," and it is the most personal of the four. Nair moved to Atlanta in 2013, worked as corporate chef at Savi Provisions, and helped open Jai Ho Indian Kitchen in 2017 and the Jai Ho stall at Krog Street Market in 2020. Rough Draft Atlanta reported that he spent most of his career cooking casual food before deciding three years ago to try fine dining and looking for investors to open Pataaka. The restaurant opened with dinner only, and lunch was expected a few weeks later. Check its current hours before planning a midday visit.

Sozou keeps a shorter schedule. Rough Draft Atlanta listed its hours as Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. That means a Sunday or Monday evening on this block works better at Pataaka or Celestia.

With four options in one block, you can have dinner and a drink without moving the car. You can eat at one place and walk across the campus to the eighth-floor bar at Ten Twenty Spring. On nights that suit omakase, you can book a seat at ISHIN's 16-seat counter.

The house in the middle of the campus

At the center of Spring Quarter's towers, the Patterson House is a 24,000-square-foot building designed by Philip T. Shutze in 1928 and surrounded by gardens. Many longtime Atlantans know it as the H.M. Patterson & Son funeral home.

In August, Portman announced that Hal's "The Steakhouse," a Buckhead institution, will take over the Patterson House. Plans call for the restaurant, a European-inspired café, and a fine art gallery on the second floor. It will be Hal's third location, after the original in Buckhead and one in Nashville.

The opening date is still uncertain. Portman's announcement says early 2028, which would line up with the building's 100th anniversary. A day later, Urbanize Atlanta published an update quoting Portman representatives who said Hal's now planned to open in spring 2027. Either way, the café would give Spring Quarter its first daytime spot in the oldest building on the campus.

Fleming's near 17th Street

The other end of the stretch opened this month. Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar opened at 1331 Spring St NW in October. It is the company's second Georgia restaurant, after its Dunwoody location. Fleming's own announcement gave an Oct. 19 opening date.

The restaurant is big. What Now Atlanta reports 8,233 square feet, a main dining room for up to 80 guests, a private Chef's Table, and four private dining rooms. For neighbors, the most useful detail is the bar. The nightly Social Hour has bar bites starting at $7 and cocktails and wines at $9. Coursed menus run on Sundays and Tuesdays, and a daily prix fixe centers on a 16-ounce dry-aged ribeye. Operating partner Krista Shoemake and Chef Tim Tillman run the restaurant.

With $9 drinks and $7 bar bites, Fleming's works for a weeknight stop as well as a special dinner. That gives the 17th Street end its own reason for an evening out, separate from Spring Quarter.

North of Fleming's, the city rebuilt the street

Just north of Fleming's, Spring Street itself has changed. Midtown Alliance's Spring Street US 19 project took one southbound lane on the half-mile between 17th Street and Peachtree and used the space for wider sidewalks, ADA upgrades, street trees, pedestrian lighting, and bicycle facilities. The project area is within three blocks of MARTA's Arts Center Station.

From the first design work to the last punch list, the project has run for more than eight years. The contract was awarded only in the last stretch:

1. Early 2018: Design and engineering began, along with the first round of public input.
2. December 2019: A traffic study concluded.
3. 2022: The City of Atlanta approved the final plans.
4. November 2023: Georgia DOT issued its permit.
5. August 26, 2024: Hasbun Construction was awarded the contract.
6. April 2026: The original estimate for substantial completion.
7. Weeks of Oct. 19 and Oct. 26, 2026: Punch-list items and corrective work along the corridor.

The street is largely rebuilt, though Midtown Alliance's project page still listed small fixes going into November. A federal transit grant and Midtown Improvement District money paid for the work. The new restaurants are going in south of this half-mile, in the blocks from 10th to 17th.

The blocks in between are next

The restaurants open today are at the two ends. These projects would fill in the blocks between them:

• 14th & Spring, 1150 Spring St NW. The building's website advertises an on-site restaurant and lobby bar as "Coming Soon Q4 2026." What Now Atlanta reported a permit filing for a 14th & Spring Cafe in Suite 175, with 86 seats and planned hours of 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. No opening date has been announced.
• 1056 Spring St, between 10th and 12th. A Midtown Alliance design review in March 2026 described a restaurant with outdoor dining planned for an existing building there. The building next door at 1050 Spring was proposed for demolition to make room for parking. No tenant has been named.
• 11th Street parklet. Midtown Alliance lists this one in planning and design on its projects page. It would cover three parking spaces with a deck and add seating, planters, greenery, lighting, and a bike and scooter corral.

Two of the three are close to Spring Quarter. A restaurant with outdoor seating at 1056 Spring and a parklet on 11th would make the 10th Street end even more of a hub. The 14th & Spring café is the only project in the middle blocks, and if its planned hours hold, it would be the first spot on this stretch that opens for breakfast.

On the south side, Midtown Alliance's 10th Street Bridge project is under construction. It adds a protected two-way bikeway, better sidewalks and crosswalks, lighting, and landscaping on the bridge closest to Spring Quarter.

Early November around Spring Street

Two events a few blocks east fit easily with dinner on Spring. The Georgia Veterans Day Parade runs on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., along Peachtree Street from 15th to 5th streets. On Sunday, Nov. 22, Piedmont Park Conservancy holds its free Light Up the Season lantern parade at Greystone, with the lighting of the park's Great Tree, Menorah, and Kinara. After the lantern parade, it's a short walk west to the bar at Fleming's or the eighth floor at Ten Twenty Spring.

If you're watching how Spring Street changes, or wondering what its new restaurants mean for nearby homes, I'm happy to talk it through over coffee, once 14th & Spring has a place to get one. Kim Waldron follows these Midtown blocks as they change. Let's Connect.