For more than 20 years, one of Atlanta’s most notable civil rights venues has sat vacant – waiting for new life.
It’s hard to overstate the role Paschal’s has played in Atlanta’s civil rights movement.
Two brothers, Robert Paschal and James Paschal, began operating as a sandwich spot in 1947. Then, in 1959, the two brothers moved across the street when they located the iconic Paschal’s Restaurant at 830 West Hunter Street, now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The restaurant was a key gathering spot for civil rights leaders for decades. It has often been referred to as the unofficial headquarters of the civil rights movement, a place where leaders would strategize on their next moves while having breakfast or eating fried chicken.
In 1960, “La Carrousel Lounge” jazz club opened next door, attracting nationally renowned artists, including Aretha Franklin and Dizzy Gillespie.
Seven years later, the brothers opened Paschal’s Motor Hotel, a 125-room motel, becoming the first Black-owned and operated motel in Atlanta. Countless civil rights leaders worked out of the hotel, and Room 101 was set aside for Martin Luther King Jr.
For T. Dallas Smith, Paschal’s represented the “glory days” of the neighborhood where he grew up. He saw Hunter Street as the West Paces Ferry Road of Black Atlanta.
The intersection of Hunter-Ashby, now MLK Drive and Joseph Lowery Boulevard, bustled with street life and activity.
“In that neighborhood, we had everything,” Smith said in a recent interview. “My hope is to restore Martin Luther King Jr. Drive so that if Dr. King came back, he would say: “This is what I’m talking about!’”
Today, Smith, founder of the real estate brokerage firm of T. Dallas Smith & Co., chairs the Westside Future Fund. It is part of his commitment to help restore the area where he grew up, a time he describes as the happiest years of his life.
It was in that spirit that Smith became interested in the Paschal’s property, which has been owned by Clark Atlanta University since the late 1990s. In 2003, the university wanted to demolish the historic buildings, but there was such passionate opposition that CAU backed down from those plans. A new Paschal’s restaurant was built on Northside Drive while the historic Paschal’s remained vacant.
Smith saw the potential of restoring Paschal’s, building a modern complex around the historic property similar to Georgia Tech’s hotel and convention space in Midtown. He reached out to two business partners, Egbert Perry of the Atlanta-based Integral Group, and Young Woo, a Korean developer who had successfully developed the Radio Hotel in Washington Heights in New York City.
“Young Woo developed this hotel and brought dignity back to the community,” Smith said.
Woo immediately became intrigued with the potential of restoring Paschal’s. He told Smith that a restored Paschal’s development would be the most impactful one he had ever done.
In fact, Woo attended the Four Pillars Award in honor of the H.J. Russell family in October 2024. At the time, Woo expressed excitement about the project.
Smith and his partners approached Clark Atlanta about restoring Paschal’s with an adjacent development along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Smith said they had spent the better part of two years and more than $100,000 working on conceptual plans and the deal.
The development team envisioned it as a partnership with Clark Atlanta, and they were open to having conversations about the design and function of the space, including dormitory units for CAU students.
In addition to residential, the development likely would have included hotel, convention space, office, retail and entertainment spaces to bring back the elements that used to exist along the corridor.
“Everyone was fully engaged,” Smith said. “Clark Atlanta would have been the first tenant. We were going to strike a deal that was advantageous to them, and that we didn’t lose money. It was not going to be a cash cow for us.”
Smith estimated the partners were prepared to invest as much as $300 million in a development that he described would be the “centerpiece” of Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and a catalyst for future investment along the corridor.
“They came to us,” said Richard Holmes, who chairs the real estate committee for the Clark Atlanta board of trustees, about the Smith-Integral-Woo proposal.
Holmes, who answered his phone while playing golf out of town, was asked if the board had decided to pass on having a partnership with the Smith-Integral-Woo team.
“Basically yes,” Holmes said.
The Smith team felt passed over when Clark Atlanta issued “Requests for Proposals” last year. The partners decided not to submit an RFP. Holmes confirmed that CAU did not receive any responses to its RFP.
Then the Clark Atlanta board decided to take a different route and ask for “Requests for Qualifications.”
“We have an RFQ out for Paschal’s,” Holmes said. “The deadline is March 31.”
On Monday, Smith said his team would not be submitting an RFQ. He explained the partners all have gotten busy with other projects, and they don’t have the bandwidth to go after the Paschal’s project.
“We just needed to cut our losses,” Smith said.
SaportaReport tried repeatedly to get comments from George French, Clark Atlanta’s president, who has previously been an advocate for preserving the historic jewels the university owns.
It is no secret that SaportaReport has urged Clark Atlanta and the larger community to restore and respect the historic treasures along the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive corridor.
When we learned that two Atlanta-based entities, T. Dallas Smith & Co. and Integral, were partnering with a like-minded New York developer to tackle the preservation of Paschal’s and restore the entire block, it felt as if this was the moment.
Sadly, we have seen moments of hope come and go. There are multiple reasons projects don’t progress, and I’m not going to point fingers.
But we as a community can do better. As the home of Martin Luther King Jr., we have a responsibility to do better.
Smith pledged to continue to revive the corridor. So many cities have streets named after King, and they often travel through struggling communities.
“If there’s any city where that should not be happening, it’s in the birthplace of Martin Luther King,” Smith said. “Atlanta should be the beacon of what an MLK Dr. should look like. Now it’s time for it to come back.”
CAU’s willingness to pass on serious, committed investors to save such important parts of American History are shameful. They have allowed Gaines Hall to fall into even worse repair. They have turned away the opportunity to raise millions of dollars to restore other important buildings. Their ability to miss opportunity for growth and advancement is mind boggling.
I totally agree with Jay, who, with his partner, has done so much to help save landmark buildings which are important to Atlanta’s African-American history. Clark Atlanta could be a national leader if they would follow Jay’s example.
Good history. I remember as a teenager taking trips to Atlanta’s Six Flags. We would always stay at the Paschal’s Hotel!
George French, CAU, doesn’t understand the importance of collaboration with others who want to IMPROVE AND CAN IMPROVE THE APPEARANCE OF THE BLACK HISTORIC COMMUNITY IMMEDIATELY! ATLANTA’S IMAGE SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS, HISTORIC STRUCTURES ON ONE SIDE OF THIS PLACE, THE SOUTH AND BEAUTY AND CONTINUOUS GROWTH ON THE NORTH! Too much time has passed already! Check your EGO at the door Mr. FRENCH and let progress move forward now!
CJ,
From my perspective, the issue is not Dr. French. The board has been reluctant to move forward on these critically important historic preservation initiatives.
Maria
Great commentary and reporting, Maria!
Black Atlanta Documented has been gathering information on the status of Paschal’s as well.
Like Tanya Milton, I also spent childhood years at Paschal’s. In my case it was the 1970s and mostly at the restaurant but I recall at least one family staycation at the hotel — complete with dapper bellhops ready to serve — during one of the Black medical conferences.
I want to add that now that the expansive Mercedes Benz complex is less than a mile away, Clark Atlanta and the City of Atlanta have no excuse. We must save and repurpose our historic Paschal’s!