Q&A: Four years later, the outlook on Underground Atlanta

Back in November 2020, Shaneel Lalani bought the storied, multifaceted, mostly mothballed complex that is Underground Atlanta for $31 million—or significantly less than the cost of  at least two single-family houses in Georgia right now. A screaming deal? Maybe. A big bite to chew? Most definitely.

Lalani, the CEO of Underground’s owner, Lalani Ventures, has succeeded in whipping up buzz for the district, establishing a hip, artsy nightlife element, and bringing in roughly one million visitors last year alone.

Other aspects haven’t gone according to plans—at least not yet.

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup grows closer every day—with an expected downtown influx of visitors and cash from around the world for a solid month—Lalani reflected on four years of ownership this week in an interview with Urbanize Atlanta. He was joined by David Tracht, a seasoned commercial real estate professional who joined Lalani Ventures as senior vice president of development two years ago.

In the Q&A below, Lalani and Tracth talk World Cup expectations for downtown, the difficulty of development on a large scale, Underground successes so far, and the budding concept of a restaurant row along Upper Alabama Street. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.  

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Urbanize Atlanta: What’s going on with this push for an Upper Alabama Street restaurant row?

Tracht: That’s definitely something that’s very top-of-mind for us… In terms of a merchandising strategy, that’s something we’re on the very front end of working on and figuring out. Whether that will end up feeling like a restaurant row, I think there’s better than a 50 percent chance of that.

We want to refresh the experience on Upper Alabama, and part of the thinking behind that is expanding to different “day parts.” If I do say so, I think our group is doing a good job on the nightlife front. We really want to expand that.

Restaurant food is more of a gap—we’re slowly but surely seeing more of that being offered. Masquerade added a food offering through a window in Kenny’s Alley, which is pretty cool. We’ve had Dancin’ Crepe there, Utopia is a new restaurant and lounge that’s going to open at the intersection of Pryor [and Wall streets]… We’re actually working on a new lease with Masquerade that would be a new location for them in Kenny’s Alley, which we think will have a food component.

There’s a lot of government buildings right around there, so historically there’s been good support for restaurants [near Upper Alabama], so we think that’s an opportunity. We’re figuring out exactly what the scope of that can be and hope to really deliver something ahead of World Cup.

UA: In terms of scale, do you have anything in mind—the number of storefronts, number of streets, for this restaurant row?

Tracht: It’s very much along Upper Alabama, between Peachtree Street and Central Avenue. You’ve got those cool, old storefronts with a lot of character, great scale. Within the scope of what we’re thinking about is refreshing that, cleaning that up, some new tenancy there. But then also, as you cross Pryor [Street], we’ve got the Exchange Building on the southeast block, which has a 25,000-square-foot footprint there that fronts Upper Alabama, with another 25,000 square feet below it. That all used to be kind of the mall. We’re trying to figure out what the right execution is there. We talk about grocery up top, food hall down below. Whether it will become that, we’ll see.

Right across from that, you’ve got the original Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau location [where Atlanta Brewing Company was planned]. We call it the visitors center. We’ve got some ideas on rethinking the storefronts. We may revisit it as [a brewery concept], or more of an event space. All of that’s on the table.

UA: We’re a year and ½ out from this massive engine of all things that is the World Cup. Where are your heads, just in general, from a high level, looking ahead?

Tracht: The World Cup feels like this arbitrary point in time. Atlanta likes to put its best foot forward and look great to the world. I’m an Atlanta guy, so I buy into that, and I’m along for the ride. But ultimately, what’s more important, is that downtown needs to be great for Atlanta and Atlantans. Anything we feel like we should do for World Cup, we should do it for ourselves. So we’ve got a real long-view that we’re taking on Underground and downtown: Are we moving in the right direction at a pace where we feel like we’re making progress? Are we creating a great place for people to come have a great experience, within the means that we have available to us?

Everybody’s taking a slightly different approach. Centennial Yards is throwing mountains of money to create new, Class A spaces. South Downtown is able to do something cool, leverage their technology and venture community. And then we’re really leaning into entertainment and nightlife and the arts.

So, we may not be playing with as much money as some of the other guys, but I think underground has done the best job in bringing people and energy to downtown… We want to do something that feels really different—and really creative. When you come down to Underground, the energy change is real, there’s a vibe, and it just feels different than anywhere else in Atlanta. Masquerade—fantastic. MJQ—fantastic. The Frisky Whisker [lounge and event space]—fantastic. Pigalle [speakeasy and cabaret]—fantastic. Mom Said It’s Fine [art gallery] on Artists Row. All these are unique creative spaces.

Everyone responds to cranes in the air and construction and new development. We’ve really leaned more into the human side. That’s the path we’re on. But we recognize, we need to do something with a little more visibility, and that will be Upper Alabama.

We’re really interested in activations for World Cup. We want to be a great place for people to come party before events, after events. We’d love that to be our role and participation. But if we bring great operators and concepts on the retail and food-and-bev side to Upper Alabama, that just needs to be sustainable forever. 

Lalani: We are going to announce something pretty shortly, maybe three to five weeks out, on what kind of refresh we want to do on the top levels of Underground. It may be smaller scale, five to six units, or closer to 15 units. We’re in the process of finalizing that. Depending on what kind of responses we get from the city—we’re working with Invest Atlanta as well—we’ll know more in the coming weeks.

It’s been four years, going on five. When I bought the property it was closer to like 15 percent occupied, and nobody was coming to the property. Since then, we’ve had several thousand events. And in 2024, we brought a million people to the property. That’s without MJQ opening. That's without another Latin nightclub we just opened, Insomnia. Not counting Masquerade… [they] had their fourth venue open in the middle part of last year. So every year, we’re bringing more traffic to our property, to downtown. It’s only going to continue this year, and leading up to the World Cup.

UA: Is there an ETA on the fifth component of Masquerade?

Lalani: I believe the lease is signed or about to be signed… It could be a fifth venue or potentially just a restaurant space. That’s essentially the last place we had available in Kenny’s Alley. If they lease that space, Kenny’s Alley is totally leased up.

UA: You mentioned the elephants in the room, Centennial Yards and South Downtown. But also there’s the substantial project that is MARTA’s Five Points redevelopment. How do you hope that impacts Underground?

Tracht: Well, we’re here for it. We love it. Any significant improvement to the neighborhood is good. One of the things we’ll say is we think the programming and security of the public spaces around Five Points MARTA station is super important. MARTA’s gotta do a great job of managing their property and making it feel clean and safe and useable. That’s obviously a key mode of transit to get to Underground and downtown.

Secondly, Alabama Street as a corridor connecting Underground and Centennial Yards is really important. And so, that needs to be a great pedestrian corridor. And right now, the latest designs we’ve seen have significant bus programming there. We’ve been vocal in the past about how we’d like to see that move off of Alabama [Street].

UA: With all these things happening around you, does it feel like you’re starting to move toward critical mass in that area? Or does it feel like it’s all just beginning?

Tracht: It feels really early to me. We really need to see some of the residential projects deliver—I think that’ll be transformative for the neighborhood. We need more residents downtown, folks that are bought in and kind of stakeholders. They care, and they’re invested through their home and presence being there, but there’s also commerce that they’ll do down there.

We look at greater Atlanta, and what’s the narrative around downtown? I think we’re just still in the early innings of changing the narrative for downtown.

UA: Speaking of residential, it was huge news when a 30-story, $160-million apartment project over Underground Atlanta came to light in the latter months of last year. With 405 units. What’s the latest on shovels meeting dirt for that project?

Tracht: We need to get our tax credit allocation from [the Georgia Department of Community Affairs]. It was approved by the city, but DCA determines where the allocations go. That’s a vital part of that project happening. I believe we will find out about that at any time. I thought it was in the month of January. If we get that, we’ll keep pressing forward with design, and you could look at an early 2026 start. If we don’t get it, we’ll reapply next year.

We think Underground is the ultimate Transit-Oriented Development location. This building would [rise] right across the street from Five Points MARTA station. It’s mixed-income, so it really delivers on what [Mayor Andre Dickens] would like to see. It should happen. We think it’s a great project in a great spot for it.

UA: Also on the residential front there’s One Park Tower, a conversion project at 34 Peachtree St. Any update on that making progress?

Lalani: There is. But the same thing, with Invest Atlanta, we’re waiting on them, on how we can work with them on getting some tax credits, some allocations, to start that. As you know, developments are very challenging. Especially downtown, it’s next to impossible… We’re plugging along, and I would say sometime this year we’re looking to break ground, as long as we can get the city to support us.

UA: And you’re part of the 2 Peachtree tower conversion as well.

Lalani: We’re part of a group that’s redeveloping 2 Peachtree.  

Tracht: That’s a public-private partnership. The city owns that building—a great reason to be optimistic on that project. And there’s a lot of very good and very smart people pushing it forward.

UA: As we speak, we’re about a week out from MJQ’s official opening. What do you hope a business like that immediately provides?

Tracht: A little bit of noise, a little chatter around it. We hope they kill it. Everyone loves MJQ. It’s similar to Underground—everybody’s got a story and history of going there. My wife and I used to go to MJQ a long time ago, and now my son goes there… We think it’s a really unique space. Let it maybe bring some folks to Underground who haven’t seen what's going on, have a great time, and spread the word.

Lalani: They’ll bring diversity—a diverse crowd. Especially with them going to Dante’s Down the Hatch space. The first question people would ask me is what are we going to do with Dante’s Down the Hatch… The young kids will now be going to that space and have a memory there, and the legacy will continue. That space is pretty iconic.

UA: Looking back across four years, has this been more difficult than you expected, or about what you were bargaining for?

Lalani: I can’t even tell you how difficult and challenging this project has been. But again, traditionally, I’m not a developer. But I got into this project, and I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of activating it and bringing it to life, where several owners have faced many challenges who were developers. Underground is so unique, there’s really not one vision; it’s been a blank canvas, and it’s given us the flexibility to go vertical, but also, at the same time, we can work trying to activate the property.

When the market comes back, that’s when we can break ground. Imagine us having a residential tower over there, or a hotel…. Underground would be a great amenity to them. But we bought it. We’re patient. I’m patient. It’s not like we have to service a big debt on it or a mortgage. We can afford to keep bringing people and these events to the property while we’re working on this redevelopment. It’s so challenging, and so difficult to go vertical and build these 25 or 30-story buildings. But we think we’ve done a good job so far.

UA: Anything else you’d want Atlantans to know?

Tracht: Atlanta should feel good about the effort that’s underway downtown to make downtown feel better. Yeah, sure, World Cup’s a catalyst for that. But there’s a lot of people thinking about homelessness, housing, and the conditions downtown. Atlanta should feel encouraged about the amount of energy that’s going into improving downtown right now.

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