Intro
While things may appear quiet on the Masonic Lodge site, the flurry of work to move this project forward has not subsided! Here’s a brief overview of what we’ve been up to since the NPU-W meeting in April.
Rezoning
On May 20, the legislation to rezone the four R-4 parcels to MRC-1-C (conditional upon the site plan below supported unanimously by SAND, EACA and NPU-W in April) was approved by unanimous vote at City Council. This came after unanimous votes of approval from the Zoning Review Board and the Zoning Committee of City Council. We’d like to thank all neighbors, residents of Ormewood Park and East Atlanta, and other stakeholders for being (and staying) engaged throughout the process of conceptualizing a design together for this very complex site, giving us good feedback all along, and sticking with us as we made necessary modifications.
Final approved site plan for the rezoning.
Illustrative color-coded site plan.
Conceptual rendering at the intersection of Moreland Ave and Glenwood Ave looking southwest.
Conceptual massing from Glenwood Ave looking east toward Moreland Ave.
Conceptual massing from Portland Ave looking east toward Moreland Ave.
Conceptual rendering of the public plaza with the Masonic Lodge in the background.
Ongoing Predevelopment Phase
We have since focused on administrative details of this deal, working through the ownership and development agreements with our residential development partner, which are both complex due to the affordable housing tax credit requirements. We’ve also been working on details of purchasing the properties, completing environmental assessments of the site, further research into historic tax credits for the adaptive reuse of the Masonic Lodge, preparing the applications for the few variances we still need, and other predevelopment details. The closing date has also been pushed back to accommodate the approval process of the housing tax credits funding.
Glenwood & Moreland Intersection Realignment
We recently checked in with the City of Atlanta Department of Public Works (DPW) regarding the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) realignment of the intersection at Glenwood Avenue and Moreland Avenue. They informed us the project is still moving forward on their end and they expect work to start in the fall of this year. Although the realignment is a public project not affiliated with our development, we will stay in contact with DPW and GDOT to coordinate the timing and design of this realignment project with the 525 Moreland redevelopment.
Pre-Leasing
We are also preparing to pre-lease office, retail and restaurant space within the project. If you are an interested business owner or emerging start-up, and are interested in space available at 525 Moreland, please fill out the Leasing Information form at this link: https://www.525moreland.com/leasing. This information will help us understand market interest and needs more directly, and will allow us to contact you in return for follow-up. Thank you for keeping in touch, and we look forward to giving an update at SAND, EACA and NPU-W in the future when progress allows.