When we last checked in on the redevelopment of Moreland Plaza shopping center in April last year, putting drones in the air to illustrate the site’s enormity, it was little more than bare dirt and the rubble of former department stores.

A year later, that’s drastically changed.

After breaking ground in the first quarter of 2023, the Moreland & Custer project by partners Empire Communities and Trammell Crow Residential has razed the boarded-up, 1960s strip center and erected the bulk of its multifamily rental component, now called Allora Eastland.

The site's vastness is apparent from the parking lot of a new self-storage facility across the street, as seen here looking south. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Custer Avenue apartment facades. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The site in question spans roughly 32 acres—or 10 acres larger than Centennial Olympic Park, for context—directly south of East Atlanta Village, next to Gresham Park. Moreland & Custer’s scope calls for 674 housing units, 14 freestanding buildings, a network of connected greenspaces, a corner building for retail, and a creek-side park. Building permits indicate the community will be broken down into 260 townhomes and 414 multifamily units, with surface parking serving each standalone building.

According to TCR, the multifamily component's developer, Allora Eastland expects to see its first move-ins in May at a location the company describes as being “just minutes away from Atlanta’s top attractions.” As an incentive, six weeks of free rent is being offered for 15-month leases on some apartments. 

Listed rents start at $1,570 monthly for one-bedroom, one-bathroom units with 808 square feet right now.

The largest, priciest options are renting for $2,288 and up, which gets two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,233 square feet.  

The Allora Eastland clubroom. TCR/Allora Eastland

Proximity of the project to Intrenchment Creek, at right, where new greenspace and a waterway cleanup is planned, per project officials. Multifamily buildings are shown in orange. Courtesy of Empire Communities

Perks of the community are listed as open-concept floor plans, gourmet kitchens with granite countertops, a resort-style pool, a dog park with an agility course, a clubroom with a gaming area, and a “tech lounge” that includes a conference room, a huddle room, work stations, and printing services.

The site’s former shopping center had been mostly vacant for years. Three years ago, national multifamily developer Alliance Residential Company planned a 500-home venture, Broadstone Moreland, at the site but eventually backed away.

Site work is being finished on Empire Communities’ portion of the acreage, but vertical construction has yet to begin.

At the corner of Moreland and Custer avenues, the project’s new retail building would consist of roughly 20,000 square feet of leasable space, per plans filed with the city. Cleanup, restoration, and greenspace implementation on Intrenchment Creek, which snakes along the property to the east, are also planned, developers have said. 

Have a look at where construction stands today—and where it’s planned to eventually be headed—in the gallery above.

[CORRECTION: 1:36 p.m. April 30: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that six months—and not six weeks—of free rent was being offered as an incentive.]

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