Another big company could be headed to Midtown with an innovation center, as Cox Enterprises is in talks to lease up to 30k SF at Ponce City Market that will be used partly for its recently announced Techstars incubator program.

Techstars Atlanta is a program sponsored by Cox that's recruiting 10 startups in social media, cloud-based ops, predictive analytics and cybersecurity for a three-month program that will give expertise, funding and office space. At the end of that term, companies will go before a number of angel investors.

Sources say Cox will also use the space as a company innovation lab. Cox's Elizabeth Olmstead confirms the company's plans for Ponce City Market, but did not elaborate on the space use beyond the Techstars program. “The Techstars Atlanta program is our primary purpose in leasing the Ponce City Market space. The remainder of the space will help accommodate Cox's business needs in the future,” she says.

Innovation centers have been sprouting up in Atlanta in recent years, from co-working spaces hosting small companies and startups that have led to Atlanta Tech Village, DeskHub, WeWork and Industrious among the players entering the Atlanta market, to Corporate America establishing its own innovation centers, such as General Motors and most recently Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield at Centergy in Midtown.