The renovation of two storefronts in a key stretch of Virginia-Highland is nearly complete, and at least one already has a tenant lined up. The adjoining old theater has a foggier future. Jeff Stein of Stein Investment Group says his firm purchased the building at 798 North Highland Ave. a little over a year ago, hoping to bring the long-empty suites — once home to a Ben & Jerry's, a Starbucks and a movie theater — back to life. Reno work on two of them should be done by the end of this month or early next, and Stein said a bridal gallery is signed up to take one space. They're "in talks" with a few prospects for the second.

Then there's the theater, which sits off the actual road and will be accessible via a hallway between the two main suites. Stein said basic work — electric, plumbing, that sort of thing — has been done in the much larger space, but nobody's quite "figured out what to do with it" yet. The investor's thoughts on its potential were encouraging, though. He called the former theater a "really cool space" and said his firm was into "cool intown real estate" and claimed to be looking for "some type of cool use." Stein is also currently involved in the attempt to bring a $6-million mixed-use project to the Westside Ironworks site on Howell Mill Road.

It's hardly a ghost town, but seems like empty storefronts have been scattered across the Virginia-Highland stretch of North Highland for a few years now. Rents there aren't exactly cheap, but still ...

— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep

· Virginia-Highland: A Lovely Grab-Bag Of Densities [Curbed Atlanta]