Historic Preservation · Mixed Use
Poptown Lofts & Retail
Macon, Georgia
A rehabilitation of the 500 block of Poplar Street pairs upper-floor lofts with a street level built for restaurants — anchored by Kudzu Seafood Company and its rooftop bar, and bright at night in a way the block hadn't been for decades.
- Location
- 500 block, Poplar Street
- Program
- Lofts + restaurant retail
- Anchor tenant
- Kudzu Seafood Company
- Partner
- NewTown Macon corridor
The project
Poplar Street is downtown Macon's widest street, and for years its 500 block was mostly quiet above the ground floor. The Poptown project rehabilitated the block's historic storefronts as a mixed-use address: loft residences upstairs, restaurant and retail space returned to the sidewalk.
Kudzu Seafood Company anchors the block at 512 Poplar, with the Wheelhouse rooftop bar above — an amenity that turns the building's roof into part of the street's public life. NewTown Macon, whose office faces the block, counts the project among the flagship investments of the Poplar corridor's revival.
The photograph the firm keeps of the project is a night shot, and that is the point: string lights, lit storefronts, and people at tables where a dark block used to be.
Research record
Sources and provenance
Project facts and photography were archived from the firm’s public portfolio and cross-checked against the supplementary sources below.
Project photography from the firm's 2026 qualification submittal.