Images: At East Atlanta Village's doorstep, throwback building rises up

After years of community meetings, planning, delays, and construction, a multifaceted Ormewood Park project is making its mark over a high-profile eastside corner this summer. 

Since 2021, The Lodge 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.

Taking shape now is a ground-up, four-story spec office building with brick-clad designs at the corner of Moreland and Glenwood avenues. If renderings are any indication, it could serve as a unique entry point to Ormewood Park, with designs that echo architecture of a century ago. 

Plans for the corner building call for ground-floor retail space with three levels of offices above. Each floor will be white-boxed, or left as raw space for future tenants, according to project filings submitted to the city last year. (Development officials have not responded to requests for construction updates this month.) As of last week, the building’s steel framing had reached the top floor. 

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 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. A recent site visit indicates renovations on the lodge portion are underway as well. 

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

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

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. No tenant announcements have been made.

In the gallery above, find more context and photos of The Lodge today. 

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