With the success of its transformation of a former truck terminal into a coworking center, the nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation is looking to lure new businesses into its Pittsburgh Yards development with five pad sites spanning 5 acres.

The foundation tapped Cushman & Wakefield Senior Associate Re’Nauta Bell to market the shovel-ready sites for developers to lease, potentially adding 1,000 jobs to the Southwest Atlanta area.

The five sites, which already have infrastructure in place, are being marketed toward developers and businesses for uses in professional service, health, trade schools, light manufacturing and distribution, according to a Cushman & Wakefield press release.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has owned the land at 352 University Ave. since 2006. It redeveloped the 61K SF former truck terminal building into a coworking space with more than 100 offices, which opened in 2021 and are now 86% leased, mainly to local South Atlanta businesses, Bell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The foundation raised $26M, including $6.5M in New Market Tax Credits from Invest Atlanta, for the conversion, according to the AJC. Columbia Ventures was tapped as the fee developer for The Nia Building.

“With all of the leakage with jobs — everything is going up to the north (Atlanta area) — we’re going to create space for folks to come back,” Bell told the AJC.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is also underway on an outdoor plaza along the Atlanta BeltLine's Southside trail that will use former shipping containers for food stalls and other retail vendors. That plaza is set to open this spring.

The group is hoping the new development can benefit the surrounding historically Black communities of Pittsburgh, Mechanicsville, Capitol View, Adair Park, Peoplestown and Summerhill, according to Urbanize Atlanta. Summerhil is already experiencing a redevelopment revival.

“Each Pittsburgh Yards pad site offers its own vibe and experience. The idea is to create unique opportunities, which impact Pittsburgh Yards users in a way that provides ease of access and a sense of a community while activating the Southwest Atlanta region,” Bell said in a statement.