Ask anyone in Olde Town Conyers what's changed this year, and you'll hear about two things: the park and the brewery.
Only one of them exists.
Celebration Park held its ribbon cutting on June 24, 2026, on the site of the old Lewis Vaughn Botanical Garden. B-Side the Tracks Brewing Company, the other project everyone in Olde Town has been talking about, was first announced back in 2022 with a target opening of "late fall" that year. As of the most recent coverage this summer, it's still described as anticipated for fall 2026. If you're pricing a rental property around the idea that Olde Town is entering a new phase of foot traffic and evening spending, you need to know which of those two catalysts is real today and which one is still a plan on paper. The market doesn't always make that distinction for you.
What actually opened on June 24
Celebration Park replaced the Lewis Vaughn Botanical Garden, a green space that had been part of downtown Conyers since it was dedicated in 1994. The city funded the renovation with $1.389 million in SPLOST money, construction started in November 2025, and the project came in under budget, according to reporting from On Common Ground News. The finished park kept the site's original water tower and koi pond, now reworked into what the city calls the Lewis Vaughn Meditation Garden, and added a play area, a small amphitheater, and gathering space next to the existing pavilion on South Main Street.
City Manager Kameron Kelley called it "a renewed heartbeat for Olde Town Conyers" at the opening. That's the kind of line a city manager says at a ribbon cutting. The more useful fact for an investor is duller: this is tax money that has already been spent on a fixed public asset. It doesn't depend on a single business surviving its first two years, and it doesn't reverse if one owner decides to sell.
The brewery that's been "opening this fall" since 2022
Compare that to B-Side the Tracks. Husband-and-wife owners Tom and Amy Johnson planned a brewery and distillery for 909 Commercial Street, in a building described at the time as more than 5,000 square feet with a rooftop patio for live music. Coverage from that period pegged the opening for late fall of 2022. A follow-up piece in 2024 still described the concept as "in the works," detailing a planned lineup of six house beers, artisan pizza, and weekend brunch. As of a June 2026 write-up on Olde Town's downtown district, the brewery is still listed among "exciting developments" anticipated to open in fall 2026.
None of this means the project won't happen. Small hospitality buildouts slip for all kinds of ordinary reasons: permitting, contractor availability, financing. But four years of "opening this fall" is a pattern worth naming plainly if you're the one running a rental pro forma that assumes a brewery-driven bump in weekend demand.
| Project | Key milestone | Funding | Status as of August 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Celebration Park | Construction started November 2025 | $1.389M, city SPLOST | Open, ribbon-cut June 24, 2026 |
| B-Side the Tracks Brewing Co. | First announced 2022 | Private | Still described as anticipated, no confirmed open date |
What the short-term rental numbers actually show
Here's where it gets more interesting for a buy-and-hold or short-term rental buyer. AirDNA's Conyers market data, covering the trailing twelve months through May 2026, shows 285 active short-term rental listings earning an average of $13,900 in annual revenue, up 14.8% from the same period a year earlier. Occupancy sits at 46% of available nights, up 19.4% year over year. The average nightly rate actually fell about 2%, to $176, while revenue per available night rose 6.3% to $73.
Read those together and the story isn't "rates are climbing." It's that hosts are filling meaningfully more nights at a slightly lower price. That's a volume trade, not a pricing-power trade, and it tends to show up when a market's underlying demand base is widening rather than when one new amenity pulls in a single class of weekend visitor.
Here's the detail that matters most if you're tempted to credit the park for any of this: the AirDNA window closes at the end of May 2026, a full month before Celebration Park's ribbon cutting on June 24. Whatever pulled occupancy up almost a fifth already happened before the park existed. That's useful to know if someone tries to sell you on this month's numbers as proof the amenity investment is already paying off in bookings. It isn't, not yet. If the park is going to show up in the data, it will be in AirDNA's next couple of updates, once a full reporting window sits entirely after the opening.
The regulatory gap that will not stay open
Georgia has no statewide short-term rental law. Every city and county sets its own rules, and that patchwork matters more than most out-of-state investors realize. Atlanta has required a short-term rental license since its ordinance took effect in 2022, and caps hosts at two properties, one of which must be their primary residence. DeKalb County adopted a comprehensive short-term rental ordinance in July 2025, with a 180-day runway before full enforcement began around January 20, 2026, and a compliance deadline that followed roughly four months later.
In researching this piece, no dedicated short-term rental ordinance turned up for the city of Conyers or Rockdale County. That's a real advantage today if you're comparing licensing friction across the northeast Atlanta suburbs. It is not a reason to assume the door stays open indefinitely. DeKalb went from no ordinance to full enforcement inside about a year once the county decided to act. Confirm current zoning and any HOA restrictions for the specific address before you buy, and check directly with Rockdale County's planning office rather than relying on the absence of news coverage as proof of anything.
Regardless of local licensing, state-level obligations already apply. Georgia charges a 4% sales tax and a $5 per night hotel-motel fee on stays of 30 days or less, and platforms like Airbnb typically collect and remit both on the host's behalf. Confirm with a tax professional how those interact with any future county lodging tax.
What this means for your numbers
If you're underwriting a rental purchase in Olde Town Conyers right now, a few things follow from the research above. Price the park's presence into your amenity assumptions, since it's built, funded, and open, even though it hasn't shown up in a single reporting cycle of rental data yet. That's not a red flag. It's a gap between what's true on the ground and what the trailing numbers can currently reflect, and it means any upside the park adds to bookings is still ahead of you, not already priced into what a seller might show you today. Hold off on crediting the brewery's foot traffic until it actually has a liquor license and a door that opens on schedule. And build in some room for the possibility that Rockdale follows DeKalb's path toward formal short-term rental registration, rather than assuming today's lighter regulatory touch is a permanent feature of the market.
On the acquisition side, Redfin's tracking put the three-month median sale price for Conyers homes at $255,000 for the period ending May 2026. That leaves room for a rental thesis to work, but the actual margin depends on your financing terms and renovation scope, not on which downtown business opens next.
FAQ
Does Rockdale County regulate short-term rentals like Airbnb? Research for this piece did not turn up a dedicated short-term rental ordinance for the city of Conyers or Rockdale County, unlike Atlanta or DeKalb County. That absence doesn't mean anything goes. Confirm zoning and HOA covenants for the specific property, and check directly with the Rockdale County Planning Department before you buy.
What taxes apply to a short-term rental in Conyers no matter what the city decides? Georgia's state sales tax of 4% and a $5 per night hotel-motel fee apply to stays of 30 days or less, and are usually collected by the booking platform. A tax professional can walk you through how these stack with any future local lodging tax.
Is the occupancy increase in Conyers because of Celebration Park? No, at least not based on the data available now. AirDNA's occupancy figures run through May 2026, a month before the park's June 24 ribbon cutting, so the increase already happened before the amenity existed. Watch the next two or three data updates. If occupancy keeps climbing once a full reporting window falls after the opening, that's when the park earns credit for it.
If you're weighing a rental purchase in Conyers, or trying to figure out whether the numbers on a specific address actually support your plan, I've run this math from both sides of the transaction, as a buyer and as a landlord. Mara Santos can walk through the comps, the financing, and what's actually finished versus what's still a plan on paper. Schedule a consultation and let's look at your numbers together.
