The Adamson Square You Know Is About to Change. Here's How to Use It This Fall.
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
Walk from the Depot on Bradley to the corner of Alabama Street and Highway 27 right now and you pass three separate versions of downtown Carrollton at once. There is the square you already know, with rocking chairs on porches and the same lunch crowd at Corner Cafe. There is the square coming in through the paper on the windows at 108 Adamson, where a new tenant is fitting out a former storefront. And there is the square that hasn't opened yet, staked out behind the construction fencing where crews broke ground on the largest mixed-use project this town has approved in years.
If you live here, this fall is a narrow window. The free programming is still running on the same rhythm it has for years. The turnover on the square is real but incremental. And the RaLin project on the west end will change the sightline within eighteen months. This piece is a plan for using the next two months on purpose.
Signs went up in June at 108 Adamson Square, the former SNM 108 space, announcing Rice & Spice Thai Sushi as the next tenant. The concept originated in Milton in 2021 and leans on a long menu of Thai plates plus sushi and specialty rolls. There is no confirmed opening date yet, only hiring notices in the window, so treat any weekend visit to the square as an opportunity to check the storefront's progress in person.
The bigger shift is happening one block west. The City of Carrollton and RaLin Construction held a groundbreaking on the gateway mixed-use project at Alabama Street and Highway 27 after the Carroll County Board of Commissioners approved the tax allocation district in a 6-0 vote. The plan calls for retail, a Home2 Suites hotel, a residential building called The Hayward managed by local firm Vision Realty & Management, and two anchor restaurants. The first is Southern Provisions, a roughly 4,200-square-foot concept from Gary Lang of Breakwater in Beaufort, South Carolina, described by the operator as upper-limit upscale casual just short of fine dining. The second is a roughly 4,500-square-foot restaurant being built out with James Beard winner Chris Hastings of Hot & Hot Fish Club and Ovenbird in Birmingham serving as lead consultant on menu and operations. Developers are targeting March 1, 2027 for retail to be operational, and about 9,500 square feet of retail space remains available.
The practical point for a resident: the walk from La Trattoria to the west side of the square is quiet right now. It won't be by 2027. Take the walk.
While the storefronts turn over, the free programming on the square has stayed put. The 2026 Amp Concert Series runs Friday nights at 7 p.m. and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., with all shows free and Saturday concerts sponsored by Scott Evans Nissan and Scott Evans CDJR. The Amp seats 750 to 1,000 across the tiered turf, and residents routinely bring their own chairs and blankets.
Remaining 2026 shows on the announced schedule:
Parking is the easy part. Public parking downtown is free, including the two decks on Tanner Street and Barnes Avenue. On-square spaces are limited to two hours, so if you're planning to eat before a show, park the deck and walk. Between concerts, the Amp also runs movies, trivia, and cornhole nights, so a Friday with no listed concert is not necessarily a Friday with nothing scheduled.
Here is one way to string it together without driving more than once.
Park the Tanner Street deck at six. Have an early dinner at Brown Dog Eatery or La Trattoria, both on the square and both walking distance to the Amp's Bradley Street entrance. If the timing is tighter, Heaven In Your Home at 106 Adamson Square runs a shorter counter-service turn. Walk to the Amp by ten to seven, find a spot on the turf, and stay through the set. The bathrooms are open while events are occurring and the water fountains are public.
The Saturday farmers market in Historic Downtown runs through the fall season and pulls a steady crowd of produce, baked goods, and specialty food vendors. Coffee before or after belongs at Buzzards Coffee or Gallery Row Coffee, both locally roasted and both within a two-block radius of the market. If the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum is on your list, the "Matriotism" and "Georgia Mountains to Shores" exhibit was scheduled through August 5, so check current programming before you go.
The 8 p.m. Amp show is the anchor. If you'd rather sit inside, 1881 does wine, pizzas, and charcuterie, and Locomex Downtown at 412 Adamson Square holds a long tequila list. Chips Burger Bar at 301 Adamson Square is the quicker option before an outdoor concert.
Slow. Jerry's Country Kitchen off the square is the town's oldest diner and reasonable for a late breakfast. The GreenBelt, Georgia's longest closed-loop bike trail, is the resident's answer to a hot Sunday afternoon, with shaded stretches past Lake Carroll and out through the wooded east side of town. Disc golfers head to Hobbs' Park.
Two developments outside the square are worth adding to a resident's rotation this fall.
The Night Market at Lake Carroll Park is Carrollton's summer answer to the downtown crowd. The second and final market of the season features live music from The Red Dirt Divas along with local artisan vendors, food trucks, and craft beverages, and the city has been folding in new waterfront features at the park. It is a good option for a Saturday when you want the same food-truck-and-live-music mix as downtown but with more room to spread out.
The other addition is athletic. Pickleball at the Lakes, the new 19-court complex at Lakeshore Recreational Complex, is now hosting Southern Pickleball Association tournaments, including the Carrollton Classic. Open play, drop-in sessions, and reserved court time are all available, and the complex has quickly become a regional draw. If you are the resident who has been meaning to try the sport and kept getting shut out on two-court public facilities, this is the change that solves that problem.
The next eighteen months are the last stretch that Adamson Square looks the way it currently looks. Use them.
The reason to lay all of this out is not that any one restaurant opening or one Amp show matters on its own. It is that the compressed calendar of the next two months, the confirmed 2027 delivery of a hotel and two elevated restaurants on the west end, and the fact that the free programming has not budged, together make this the moment to be an active resident rather than a passive one. Come back to the square more than usual. Try the coffee shop you keep walking past. Sit through one Amp show even if the act is unfamiliar. You will remember the before.
When the time comes to think about your next move, whether that means adding space, right-sizing, or helping a family member land closer to town, Kelly Berry | The Home Team is a call away. Nearly three decades in West Georgia, calm guidance from first conversation through closing, and the local context to help you plan around what is actually changing on the ground.
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