The former Doraville Kmart site has new owners who are pitching a new redevelopment plan. Previously known as "Nexus," new ownership has rechristened the project "Lotus Grove," with plans to add restaurants, retail, hotel, and multifamily housing, among other things, to the site. Kmart, which opened along Buford Highway in 1971, closed its store in 2010. Since then, there have been several ideas floated about a possible redevelopment of the 13.5 acre site.
The new "Lotus Grove" development would consist of two phases. The first phase is a mixed-use development fronting Buford Highway. The second phase (which could be constructed concurrently with phase 1) is a multifamily community containing 350 units to be located on the back portion of the site. The commercial phase is expected to contain approximately 73,200 SF of retail, 20,300 SF of office and a 22,000 SF “food hall.” The project would also include a 97 room, five story select service hotel, reportedly to be Tru by Hilton flagged property.
Macauley Investments, the firm behind "Nexus," had in 2015 proposed a redevelopment of the site similar to the current plan. Nexus would have brought a mix of 350 apartments, 140 senior living units, a 140 key hotel and 44,000 square feet of retail space to the parcel. Demolition was to have started in early 2016 with completion slated in late 2017.
Both phases will require structured parking to accommodate the respective building programs. The site plan prepared for Lotus Grove, LLC provides for 266 surface and 243 structured parking spaces in a two level structure.
Chaz Lazarian, developer and the principal of Insignia, LLC, purchased the former Kmart property earlier this year for $11 million, according to DeKalb County property records. Lazarian previously developed the Global Forum shopping center at 7130 Buford Highway. He has also proposed “Orchid Grove,” a similar redevelopment of Gwinnett Prado, a largely vacant shopping center along Pleasant Hill Road near Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth. Orchid Grove, a reported $250 million project, would bring a mix of restaurants, retail, office, hotel, lofts, townhomes, multi-family, and two central parks, among other things, to the largely vacant 32 acre site. Anchor Great Wall Supermarket, which occupies a former Target, would reportedly be the only existing tenant to remain. Several outparcels, including a long vacant former Rio Bravo restaurant, would also be demolished as part of the new development. The project, first proposed in 2016, was to be at least partially completed by 2017, but as of today nothing visible has been done. Sources familiar with the project tell ToNeTo Atlanta that Lazarian now hopes to begin construction in early 2020.
The planned inclusion of a food hall in the Doraville project is a bit of head-scratcher when you consider the cornucopia of worldly affordable options already available up and down Buford Highway. Additionally, as many developers have decided, food halls are not as easy to fill and execute as one might hope. Simon has abandoned plans for a food hall at One Phipps Plaza, replacing its allocated space with Pinstripes, an upscale bowling concept. North American Properties is again without a food hall operator for its Colony Square redevelopment following the recent departure of Oz Rey, its third food hall partner. Elsewhere in metro Atlanta, sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that things are not going as well as many had hoped at Marietta Square Market, while Fuqua Development continues to press forward with their food hall at their upcoming project, The Exchange at Gwinnett on Buford Drive in Buford.
Launched in early 2016 and designed to compete with Comfort Inn and La Quinta, Tru by Hilton already has more than 50 properties open and more than a dozen more coming soon. In Georgia, Tru has properties open in Savannah, Kennesaw and McDonough, with others coming soon to Lawrenceville and Northlake, among others.
"Doraville is committed to quality redevelopment that not only benefits future generations but also plays into the qualities that make our community unique. It is important to get it right, and I am ecstatic about the prospect of the former K-Mart site being redeveloped. Lotus Grove is a $116-Million mixed-use redevelopment that will feature a food hall, multiple restaurants, office, residential, and a vibrant national brand hotel that is new-to-market and will be a centerpiece for the new site" said Donna Pittman, Doraville's Mayor since 2011.
"I have worked tirelessly for many years with our Planning Staff to work through the challenges the site has - I am excited to see it finally come to fruition. This project will set a new foundation for Buford Highway and many projects to come" Mayor Pittman added.
No other Atlanta area Kmart store has seen this kind of redevelopment. Several former Sears stores, however, are slated for significant redevelopment, most notably the former Sears at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, which is being reborn as mixed-use development "The Point."
Are you excited to hear that there is renewed interest in redeveloping the former Doraville Kmart store? What would you most like to see open as part of "Lotus Grove"? Do you think a food hall makes sense along Buford Highway?
Please share your thoughts below.