Historic Sandy Springs site to house Southeast café chain Summit Coffee

After years of speculation, the next chapter of the Williams-Payne House has been written.

The restored 1869 farmhouse and former home to the Heritage Sandy Springs Museum will now play host to a location of Summit Coffee, a café and creamery concept led by local resident Adam Cook.

Cook said the site is “fascinating and a true part of the larger history of Atlanta.”

“This land, and the building itself, has been preserved by years of hard work through local community efforts. We aim to be an extension of that preservation but also add new life to the area and be community-centric and placemaking-focused,” he told Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Founded in 1998, Summit Coffee operates 21 cafés across the Southeast. The Chronicle reported on the North Carolina-based company’s expansion into metro Atlanta back in 2021, when CEO Brian Helfrich confirmed a franchise location was coming to Roswell.

At the time, the company planned to have 10 local cafés by 2025, with Helfrich saying Summit had extensively scouted metro Atlanta and initially would target suburban areas for its cafés.

Currently, in addition to Roswell, there are locations in Dunwoody, Emory Village and Brookhaven.

The intention was to find micro-markets that were not yet saturated with specialty coffee shops and to seek locations in the vicinity of neighborhoods populated by young families.

Each Summit Coffee has its own design so they all have a local feel, Helfrich told the Chronicle at the time.

Now, Helfrich says, “Sandy Springs has been on our short list of Atlanta-area neighborhoods since we started looking here more than five years ago, and finding an historic house as our next location is quite exciting.”

The Sandy Springs location will be the only location outside of the flagship in Davidson, North Carolina, to also house a seasonal creamery.

With programming designed to foster “third-place” connection, such as live music, maker markets, wine tastings and community workshops, this location of Summit will serve alcoholic beverages and be open until 9 p.m.

More than 50 businesses showed interest in the Williams-Payne House property before Summit was chosen.

Alan Shaw, EVP of The Shopping Center Group, who was a part of the lease negotiations, shared that interest in the space came from a varied group of tenant prospects, which included some office uses, restaurants, children’s concepts, a gift shop, event operators, a high-end window/door manufacturer, interior design firms and a donut concept “all looking to enter the Atlanta market, and of course, other coffee shops.”

Shaw said that Summit Coffee’s “mission and vibe” aligned with the neighborhood-driven environment and respected the historic nature of the property while introducing a “modern community-centric use.”

Mayor of Sandy Springs Rusty Paul said that while they “always prefer” to open locally based businesses where possible, the priority is on businesses that add “to the vibe” desired for the City Springs district.

According to presentation notes, Summit sees Sandy Springs as “an integral player in the affluent North Fulton economy” which continues to benefit from its participation in the “vibrant Atlanta metropolitan area.”

In addition to the large concentration of “highly educated” residents who support fintech, medical and business services ecosystems, “the population growth has come with a fast-paced growth in household income levels, which is well suited for a high-end café, bakery and leisure focused” business.

“When a café can turn into an after-work hangout spot, a place for live music, and where families can come to enjoy events and community programming, then it’s decidedly ‘more than expected,’ and that’s a good thing,” said Cook.

When that same coffee shop turns into a fixture in the community, and a de facto meeting place, that’s when “you’ve hit a true third place with deep roots,” he said.

Cook went on to say that while activating cafés in multiple facets outside of the core business takes a lot of work and a lot of small events with variety, if done well, “exponential” value can be built for the surrounding area.

“We believe the Williams-Payne House can be these things and are excited to make this vision a reality,” said Cook.

Original article by the Atlanta Business Chronicle here.