Decatur development with park facet lands neighborhood market

The forecast is becoming clearer for a multifaceted Decatur project transforming the better part of a city block. 

Throughout this year, North Carolina-based developer Northwood Ravin has been topping out portions of a 370-apartment, mixed-use, Transit-Oriented Development called Halo East Decatur (formerly East Decatur Station), or Halo for short.

The 7.5-acre construction site is situated along East College Avenue—spanning between New Street to the west and Sam Street at the site’s eastern boundary—less than a block from Avondale MARTA station. 

This week, development officials confirm to Urbanize Atlanta that Halo has signed its first tenant: Galore Market, a neighborhood market concept from the creators of O4W Market. 

Yes, the Halo space will mark the second new location of Galore Market within less than a half mile along East College Avenue. (Talk about a hot market for markets). 

The other, as first reported on these pages Tuesday, will be a standalone business that aims to open in October, just beyond the Decatur line in Avondale Estates. According to Michael Wess, a Bull Realty partner who’s working with Galore Market in Avondale, the market's ownership believes the two concepts will have different clientele. The Halo market “will be a key offering in the mixed-use, while the freestanding College Avenue building will have great space to sit outside and relax, but will also appeal to passersby,” Wess told Urbanize this week.

Halo’s construction schedule calls for first apartments to start coming online in April, with full project completion by January 2027. More than 40 apartments will meet Area Median Income rental-rate requirements, and those “will be evenly dispersed across the development and fully equivalent to market-rate units,” per a project rep. 

Amenities call for a rooftop pool with views to Atlanta’s skyline, plus more than 3,000 square feet of fitness space, a gaming lawn, a yoga studio and exercise room, an outdoor movie projector, a golf simulator, a pet spa, a sports bar, and what’s described as “a hidden bar with full service and surprise cocktail events,” among other perks. 

The developer will be partnering with nonprofit Decatur Arts Alliance to put together a public call for mural proposals. The partnership will also operate a resident-artist program at Halo called “Canvas Artist Studios.” That will provide three on-site studios, where selected artists will receive “free studio and gallery space, including utilities, in exchange for engaging with residents and the public through their work,” per Halo reps. 

Elsewhere, Oakhurst Realty is handling Halo's retail leasing.

Renderings and other plans for the Halo project show an interior public plaza leading to a new 1-acre Freeman Street greenspace, and a 468-space parking deck shielded mostly from view.

Northwood Ravin’s initial plans had called for more than 400 rentals in Decatur. According to documents Northwood Ravin submitted to the city, the reduction in unit count was meant to allow for slightly larger rentals and more room to add public greenspace, plus enough retail space to attract the neighborhood grocer.

To make way for Halo, demolition of a low-rise row of commercial buildings on East College Avenue began in summer 2023. Over the years, those razed buildings had housed pet adoption agency iWag, Jazzercise Decatur, Project Slide workout studio, a clothing store, BlueTarp Brewing, and La Calavera Bakery, along with offices and other businesses.

Halo will join roughly 1,000 new apartments that have materialized nearby since 2018, with more in the pipeline, as Decatur seeks to remake its light-industrial eastern fringe into a more walkable district with transit access. Three Taverns Craft Brewery is located on the block next door, just to the west.

“East Decatur is growing rapidly, and we’re excited to deliver high-quality housing that meets the needs of today’s renters,” Ben Yorker, Northwood Ravin vice president of development, wrote in a statement to Urbanize. “With Halo, we are prioritizing features that both elevate the resident experience and create lasting value for the surrounding district.”

Elsewhere in the ITP market, Northwood Ravin has partnered with Fuqua Development for a mixed-use Old Fourth Ward project called The Bowery that recently kicked off demolition. 

In the gallery above, find a breakdown of what the Halo project entails, along with recent site photos and context. 

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