Overlooking East Atlanta Village, The Lodge project nears max height

For a unique mashup of residential, offices, retail, and historic preservation where Ormewood Park meets East Atlanta, this past summer was eventful. 

A four-story spec office building with brick-clad designs at the corner of Moreland and Glenwood avenues has taken shape in recent months as the cornerstone of The Lodge. The project has been redeveloping—in fits and starts—a formerly vacant, blighted corner where East Atlanta Village meets Moreland Avenue, a main north-south thoroughfare, for the past four years. 

The corner building promises to serve as a unique entry point to Ormewood Park, with designs that echo architecture of a century ago. Despite appearances, it’s not quite topped out. 

A project rep tells Urbanize Atlanta the corner building should reach its max height by the end of October. Also by month’s end, at least one anchor tenant should be ready to be announced, we’re told, but no other details were provided. 

Whether that/those anchor tenants will lease retail or office space wasn’t specified.  

Plans for the steel-framed corner building call for ground-floor retail space with three levels of offices above. An arched main entry and retail signage would be prominent at the building’s corner, per revised renderings. 

The project’s name pays homage to the Masonic Lodge at its core, which was built in 1947 and used for years as a Masonic Grand Lodge upstairs with a Kroger at street level. That building remains structurally sound despite years of vacancy and neglect, project officials have said. Renovations on the lodge portion are underway as well. 

Meanwhile, The Lodge’s residential facet, Abbington at Ormewood apartments, is leasing one to three-bedroom apartments. 

One recent deal advertised three-bedroom rentals for between $1,211 and $1,600 monthly, with income restrictions applying. 

The residential component includes 42 units overall for tenants earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income (the project average is 58 percent AMI), according to Partners for Home. Georgia’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program helped provide financing. 

The development is a partnership between the Clark Property R+D firm, affordable housing specialists Rea Ventures, King Properties, Porch & Square, RAD Group, and the Gentle Works design firm. Invest Atlanta and Partners for Home have provided financial support. 

The Lodge initially broke ground with demolition in 2021, combining eight parcels that had previously housed individual homes, a parking lot, and ancillary buildings. Then came funding delays caused by spiking construction costs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The site went idle for well over a year.

Project officials said in early 2024 The Lodge’s 33,000 square feet of office, retail, restaurant, and event space was 67 percent pre-leased via King Properties. But no tenants have been revealed.

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