ADAC not just for interior designers; opens to public

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The Atlanta Decorative Arts Center, better known as ADAC, plansto open its approximately 60 showrooms to the public, beginning on Oct. 1—tolook, maybe even touch, but not to buy without hiring an interior designer,according to an article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The Atlanta Decorative Arts Center at 351 Peachtree Hills Avenue

Since it opened in 1961, only interior designers and theirclients were able to browse the cutting-edge furniture, fabric, lighting, fineart and other products in the 550,000-square-foot facility at 351 Peachtree HillsAvenue in south Buckhead.
“If we can’t invite the consumer in, they have no way of knowingwhat’s inside,” ADAC’s general manager Katie Belveal told the BusinessChronicle.
The move is in response to a changing industry. “Interiordesigners, in recent years, have seen business suffer due to economic pressuresand increasing competition from Internet businesses and retail stores. Lettingthe public into ADAC should bring the designer back into the process since peoplestill will have to hire one to purchase items from ADAC,” the BusinessChronicle wrote.
“More and more, we are trying to make ADAC more inclusive, notexclusive,” Mickey Steinberg told the Business Chronicle. Steinberg is a senioradviser with Portman Holdings LLC, which owns and operates ADAC and has beenwith the company since 1961 when ADAC opened.“The building was a mystery to people,” he said. “We don’t wantit to be a mystery.”
Built by renowned Atlanta architect and developer John Portman, whobegan his career as an interior designer, the original ADAC has 58,000 squarefeet of rentable space.
To read the full Atlanta Business Chronicle article, click here.