How to Spend 4 Hours in Atlanta: Ponce City Market and Fourth Ward Park
Updated October 3, 2026
Four hours lets you explore a vast old warehouse turned market. Walk around the lake in Historic Fourth Ward Park, then spend the rest of the time in the old Sears building, eating in its food hall and riding up to the roof.
In 1925 Sears, Roebuck bought sixteen acres on Ponce de Leon Avenue and built a store and warehouse to serve the whole Southeast. The building later became city offices and then stood mostly empty before a developer turned it into Ponce City Market. It now holds shops, offices and a food hall right on the BeltLine. Just south, Historic Fourth Ward Park reclaimed land around a stormwater lake and gives the walk a green start.
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The 4 hour plan, stop by stop
Stops and travel: 1 hr 41 min to 2 hr 21 min of 4 hours
This 17 acre park reclaimed underused land in the Old Fourth Ward and won design awards for doing it. At its center is a two acre lake that doubles as a stormwater basin, with paths, meadows, a playground and an amphitheater around it. The park connects to the Eastside Trail, and the Thomas Taylor Memorial Skatepark sits by the trail access at Willoughby Way.
Tip: The splash pad runs only from May 1 to October 1, but the playground stays open all year, and the lake path makes an easy loop before you walk north.
- Time here
- 20 to 30 min
- Website
- beltline.org
NaviTime to head out from Historic Fourth Ward Park for Ponce City Market. It's a 1 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Sears ran its showrooms here until 1989, and in 1991 the city bought the building and renamed it City Hall East. Developer Jamestown took it over in 2010 and kept the original columns and beams in its restoration. The food hall is open daily, and the shops open from morning to evening Monday to Saturday, with shorter hours on Sunday. Skyline Park, a rooftop of carnival games and views, opens in the afternoon on weekdays and earlier at weekends.
Tip: Reach Skyline Park by the historic freight elevator in the courtyard next to Market East and Minero, where staff can help with questions and pricing before you go up.
- Time here
- 1 hr 20 min to 1 hr 50 min
- Website
- poncecitymarket.com
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