17-acre movie studio bound for Stone Mountain, near MARTA station

Another major investment is bound for the area around MARTA’s easternmost train station—one that could also be another notch in Y’allwood’s cap.

Capstone South Properties and Domain Capital Group have closed on a vacant, 17-acre site in Stone Mountain where a new studio brand, Electric Owl Studios, is expected to begin construction this month.

Billed as the world’s first ground-up, LEED Gold-certified film and TV studio campus, the project will be located just south of MARTA’s Indian Creek station, adjacent to Interstate 285 and about 15 miles east of downtown.  

It’s a venture by Capstone’s Michael Hahn and film industry vet Dan Rosenfelt, formerly of Third Rail Studios, another DeKalb County TV-and-film complex.

Third Rail was recently bought for a reported $27.5 million by Gray Television, the Atlanta-based media company planning to turn Doraville’s razed GM plant into a 127-acre “Studio City.”

Roughly 20 miles away in Stone Mountain, phase one of Electric Owl Studios calls for a 300,000-square-foot studio with six stages. Domain is the project's capital partner, while Epsten Group was brought on as sustainability consultants and Cherry Street Energy for solar initiatives.

In an announcement today, project leaders described the site’s access to transit as “seamless” while pointing out that Avondale Estates is five minutes away and Atlanta’s airport less than a half-hour drive.

The campus is scheduled to be ready for productions a year from January.

Electric Owl Studios plans to generate more than 30 percent of the power it needs from renewable sources, incorporating LED lighting, efficient insulation, and EV charging stations, officials said.

Rosenfelt said the project’s sustainability goals will create the “greenest studio on earth” while meeting rising film industry demand in Georgia, where tax credits have helped lure billions in Hollywood investment for years. Collaboration with other metro Atlanta studios is also a stated goal.

“Our campus will deliver a ‘big studio’ feel with boutique service,” Rosenfelt said in a statement, “allowing us to provide an unmatched, best-in-class experience and create a symbiotic relationship between studio operations and the productions we serve.”

The studio complex isn’t the only big bet in this transit-connected pocket of DeKalb.

Atlanta-based Kaplan Residential is planning a town-center-style project with 239 townhomes on 20 acres across the street from the studio. Kaplan’s venture is expected to have direct connectivity to the MARTA station. All townhomes will remain for-rent.

MARTA, meanwhile, expects to break ground next week on a $10-million update of the Indian Creek transit hub itself. That's part of a planned $300 million in upgrades at stations across the system.

• Near last stop on MARTA line, large townhome project planned (Urbanize Atlanta)