The once-iconic subterranean venue has languished for decades, but new owners want to restore it to its former glory.
Eerie Echoes was gearing up to be a perfect rave . It had a great DJ , flock of hype , and a cool ulterior location . But first , organizers had to show citizenry how to get there . “ This will probably be the room access that ’s loose that night , ” a party plugger said with dubiety in aTikTok videoa week before the rave , endure in front of a huge wall of doors .
The event saw moderate winner despite the less - than - intuitive finish , and the video aptly summarize the challenge faced by anyone who has attempt to reviveUnderground Atlanta : You have to get hoi polloi in the door .
The venue , like the rest of downtown , has somehow eluded the redevelopment frenzy that has transform surrounding neighbourhood like Castleberry Hill and Midtown with mellow - rises and voguish loft renovation . But the quad — a gigantic warren of streets and storefronts beneath 12 business district acres — is bursting with potency . In the seventies , it was the hottest pip in the city with resilient jazz and take nightclubs undetermined until the weensy hours of the morning . After its efflorescence , it was hollowed out by urban disinvestment , and by the mid aughts , it was a ghostwriter Ithiel Town surrounded by vacant parking lots . Since then , Underground Atlanta has been the white giant of Atlanta developers , many of whom bet fully grown on restoration ideas that went nowhere — but all of that could be changing .
Photo by Terence Rushin, courtesy of Red Bull
After a stint as a row of storefronts and a history museum that glossed over the metropolis ’s antiblack yesteryear , the complex peaked in the other ’ 70s , when gazillion of visitors flocked to Underground for live music and go - go dance clubs . One of the most notable locus , Dante ’s Down the Hatch , open in 1970 . The space was shape like a pirate ship , surrounded by a moat of live alligators , and sleep with for its fondue . Dante ’s became the fabled mainstay of the Underground , with live jazz seven nights a week .
“ It was still a place multitude would go , ” Williams echo . “ It had a surge in the former ’ 90s . Things like Freaknik ( the legendary HBCU spring break party ) and the National Black Arts Festival brought citizenry in . ” The mall appealed to teen , who skipped school to attend out at the arcade and food for thought court . When touristry surge during the ’ 96 Olympics , the “ urban cleanup ” that accompanied the game basically amount to a whitewashing crusade , which pushed out the local Black Atlantans who ’d digest the struggling stage business .
When Williams was hang nearby Georgia State University in the 2000s , he said foot traffic at Underground Atlanta had bring down to a trickle . Desperate to keep Underground relevant , the metropolis passed a particular ordinance allow bar there to persist open until 4 am , but business dwindle down anyway . It still host the Atlanta Peach Drop on New Year ’s Eve but there was little to eviscerate visitors the rest of the yr , and in 2016 , Underground Atlanta shut out its doors completely for the second clock time .
The reimagined Underground Atlanta features art galleries and nightlife venues.|Photo by Lyle Baldes
Eight age later , a new developer is approaching Underground Atlanta in an entirely unlike way , leaning into euphony locale and artwork galleries , offering artists heavily subsidized or even free rent to court visitor — and dollar — back to the beleaguered complex .
“ This property meant so much to the urban center and the community , ” say Shaneel Lalani beginner of Lalani Ventures , which purchased the sprawling property from another developer in 2020 forareported$31.6 million . “ This was one of those lifetime opportunities — it feel like we really had to redevelop this . ” Lalani immigrated to Atlanta with his family from India when he was nine ; Underground Atlanta was one of the first place his parents went to attend for jobs .
So far , the scheme appear modestly successful . In 2021 , Lalani impart in the move around display of the renegade creative person Banksy , which trip interest from local artists and gave Lalani the idea to allow them to curate the place . They put out a press release offer six months of spare studio apartment space ( with prices slowly rising to below - securities industry rates ) and got more than 400 inquiries . They rent out 10 spaces , and the art crowds draw in by verandah has help secure other tenants , likeThe Pigalle , a burlesque bar , and theAtlanta Comedy Theater , which will host rising comedian Mo Gilligan and Jesus Trejo this year .
Since then , art art gallery likeMom allege It ’s Fine — the venue for Eerie Echoes — and thePublic Art Futures Labare create urgently needed space for emerging Atlanta artists to deal work , while nightclubs likeFutureand the relocatedMasqueradeare draw gravid crowds for drag shows and live music .
“ Lalani Ventures trust artist enough to have us do our own matter , ” pronounce Mike Stasny , who created Mom read It ’s Fine studio and gallery . “ There are a lot of other developers … that do n’t ever experiment in this room , so as long as I get to be an artist , I do n’t mind being ‘ be given on . ’ ”
“ It ’s a win - winnings for us , ” say Lalani . “ creative person are curating their own space , they ’re bringing the great unwashed in . That really got thing going for us . ”
Lalani Ventures is n’t betting on downtown alone . In recent years , there ’s been a surge of development in the field , which has shinny economically despite being one of the most walkable parts of the city and home to some of its oldest buildings . Over at The Gulch — another subterranean cavern created by turn - of - the - hundred ontogenesis — a $ 5 billion renovation project is afoot . In late 2023 , a span of tech investors rescue a Brobdingnagian swath of historical south downtown from foreclosure , after a German developer ’s resurgence programme spiraled . Those developers have great , if undefined , plans for the neighborhood , which abuts Underground Atlanta . Meanwhile , MARTA is launching a stark overhaul of the Five spot post next - doorway , which will also have grown implications for the future of Underground Atlanta .
“ There are no third infinite [ in Atlanta ] anymore , ” Williams tell . “ It makes sense to double down on night life and get it back to where it was before . ”
