Memorial Drive’s transition into a denser housing corridor with fewer underused church properties is set to take another step forward this week.

A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled Friday for a project consisting of five modern, single-family homes in Kirkwood near Drew Charter School, where Memorial meets East Lake Terrace.

Like another property across the street, the 2246 Memorial Drive site is home to a former small church—Zion Pentecostal Evangelistic Church of God in Christ—that hasn’t been used regularly for years.

According to an announcement this week, the project is now called JD Kirkwood. It’s being built by JDW Development, with designs by Xmetrical, an architecture firm with modern-style homes and commercial ventures dotted across Atlanta.

The Memorial Drive site in question, with Drew Charter School and East Lake YMCA facilities below.Google Maps

Renderings show three-story homes topped with roof terraces arranged around the lot’s central driveway. On the block south are Drew Charter School facilities and the East Lake YMCA.

At last check in August, each of the JD Kirkwood homes was expected to span roughly 2,600 square feet, with prices between $650,000 and $750,000. (We’ve asked for updates and will relay any changes that may have occurred.)

A construction announcement provided this week. JDW Development

Near the church building—which still stands for now, unlike the razed former sanctuary across the street—a MARTA bus stop is expected to be moved and rebuilt on site.

As with Toll Brothers’ 51-home Oxley Edgewood project, the Empire Paintbox townhomes elsewhere in Kirkwood, and the 1200 Ponce venture claiming Druid Hills United Methodist Church, among others, it’s a case of developers moving in to claim land from an intown congregation willing to sell and move on.

Earlier this month, Empire outlined plans for 81 more townhomes that would claim yet another Memorial Drive church property on land that’s been annexed into the City of Atlanta. That site is located a half-mile west of JD Kirkwood’s location.

Pop into the gallery above for more context and a look at what's planned. 

• Recent Kirkwood news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)