[Exclusive] Summer Groundbreaking Planned For The Lodge in East Atlanta

Affordable housing project Abbington at Ormewood and a new ground-up office building will anchor the mixed-use development
Rendering of the new office building planned for the corner of Moreland Avenue and Glenwood Avenue. The building has the opportunity for anchor tenant signage
Rendering: Official

Rea Ventures Group and its development partners have completed the acquisition of an eight-property assemblage comprising approximately 1.5 acres at the border of Ormewood Park and East Atlanta with plans to develop The Lodge, a mixed-use development anchored by affordable housing project Abbington at Ormewood and a new ground-up office building.

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The Lodge — first announced in 2019 — with the acquisition of the land is now expected to break ground in summer 2021 immediately across from the East Atlanta Village business district, at 525 Moreland Avenue. At the site sits the project’s namesake, the 15,000 square-foot historic Masonic Lodge building which will be restored as part of the development. The project also includes a new office building at the corner of the intersection.

Abbington at Ormewood will offer 42 units of affordable housing geared toward households with a mix of incomes from 30 percent to 80 percent of area median income (AMI), with an average of 60 percent AMI. “We’re proud to be part of this collaborative effort to add a range of affordable housing options to an area where housing prices have escalated rapidly over the past 10 years,” Trey Coogle, managing partner at Rea Ventures, said. 

The commercial team, led by a partnership between local developers Clark Property R+D, King Properties, and Porch & Square, will develop approximately 30,000 square feet of office, retail, and restaurant space.

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Photo: GSU Library | The historic Masonic Lodge building. Built in 1947, the building originally housed a Kroger on the first floor and the masonic lodge on the top floor. The building has been vacant for over 20 years

The development team worked closely with Ormewood Park and East Atlanta residents to explore design solutions and respond to community concerns: preservation of the historic Masonic Lodge building, affordable housing, outdoor public space, commercial amenities, and work centers. It also uses a “transitional height strategy to concentrate density along the Moreland Avenue frontage, while scaling down at the edges adjacent to single-family homes.”

After six months, 10 design charrettes, and 12 neighborhood meetings, a necessary rezoning of a portion of the site was unanimously approved by the community and the City of Atlanta in May 2019 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

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Conceptual rendering: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture | Public plaza surrounded by the Masonic Lodge (right) and the new office building (left)

The development team is now proceeding with finalizing the design, entitlement details, and site preparation before submitting their application for building permits. Construction is targeted to start by the Summer of this year, with the site work and the residential phase of the project completed by 2021. The commercial space is currently for lease by Perry King with King Properties and will break ground in phases as buildings are preleased.

Site plan of the development. Buildings A and B, the Masonic Lodge and a historic house respectively, are existing and will be restored as commercial space. The new office building is D on the corner, which frames a large public plaza connected to the Lodge building. The orange buildings are the affordable housing. Source: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture
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Site Plan: McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture | Buildings A and B, the Masonic Lodge, and a historic house respectively, are existing and will be restored as commercial space. The new office building is D on the corner, which frames a large public plaza connected to the Lodge building. The orange buildings are affordable housing.

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