Let other Korean investors pour money into Gwinnett County's new "Little Korea." Suna Om is an inner-city gal – a kind of Korean-American ambassador on the streets of the West End.

The real estate developer bought a corner of the southwest Atlanta neighborhood for about $3.5 million last year and plans to build a Marriott in the business district.

Hyosub Shin/AJC (ENLARGE)

Suna Om walks on Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd., where she plans to build a Marriott Hotel.

• Photos NAME: Suna Om AGE: 60 FAMILY: Married with two children and two grandchildren HOMETOWN: Atlanta JOB: Real Estate broker and developer. Worked as real estate agent for the Quin Group in Norcross for 14 years. Left in 2006 to start her own real estate brokerage business. President, Korean-American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia. EDUCATION: Bauder College, Atlanta, Associates Degree in Fashion Design, 1981. ORIGINALLY FROM: Korea. Came to United States in 1965 and to Atlanta in 1975. Immigration news Immigration chief in Atlanta to congratulate staff  Authorities round up 120 suspected gang members  Immigration key in Gwinnett commission race  Law cracks down on license-less driving  Union panel calls attention to immigration raids  Recent headlines: Safety board: Signs factor in Atlanta bus crash  Police crack down on cyclist group's traffic tactic  Founder of Atlanta's Galloway School dies     • Atlanta and Fulton County news

"I want to be the bridge between the West End and the Korean community," said Om. "I want to encourage Koreans to live over here where they have businesses."

For several years Om, 60, has lived in a humble duplex in the blue collar, in-town Pittsburgh community.

Om continues to walk the talk. She recently bought a home on a West End street where plywood covers windows and doors. The area has been hard hit by the mortgage fraud crisis. Vagrants live in empty buildings and steal the copper pipes and building supplies.

"I would not take a new house in Suwanee because this one has character," said Om of the four-sided brick bungalow she bought for $60,000. She plans to renovate the wooden floors, high ceilings and craftsman touches.

She already convinced two Korean friends to buy boarded up homes in the same neighborhood.

Baik Kyu Kim, owner of Big Bear grocery store in the West End, wishes Om success.

"If she creates a bridge like that, it's good for us," he said of a Korean liaison with the community.

Om has an easy way with her most everyone she meets.

Merchants in a West End wig store and flea market wave as Om walks in. She's their landlord.

"Hello!," Om says to a tall West African man who pretends to block her way into the flea market. "Ten dollars to pass!" he jokes.

Om is a trailblazer, says Franklyn Simmons, Vice President of commercial lending for Capitol City Bank & Trust Company in the West End. The bank financed one of Om's commercial real estate purchases last year and is interested in her hotel proposal.

Om wants to build the Marriott, complete with a roof-top garden, on the corner of Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Evans Street. The project could be another step in the halting redevelopment of the area southwest of Atlanta's downtown. Om must receive city permits first.

While there are many Korean merchants in the West End, there are no developers of her magnitude, Simmons said. Om has worked in real estate for more than a decade and owns a shopping plaza and other commercial property in Gwinnett. She also owns a country home in Maysville, Ga. that she rents out for weddings.

She is aware of the seldom-addressed tension that can exist with minorities who do business in black neighborhoods.

The common perception is that business owners of other races take money out and don't give back. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young got into hot water two years ago when he made such negative remarks about Asian, Arab and Jewish inner-city grocers.

Om wants to change the stereotype.

"We want to be part of the West End and live together in harmony," said Om, who stands about 5 feet tall.

For the past few years Om has lived in a Pittsburgh duplex she bought in a tax lien auction. The front yard sprouts an array of planters, mismatched lawn furniture, a grocery shopping cart and a persimmon tree.

"The house was cheap – a bargain – and I was not afraid of dodging bullets," Om said. "She's living in the community where she's doing business. That's quite unique for immigrants," Simmons said.

Om dresses in a conservative suit and flat, thick-soled shoes, good for walking on broken sidewalks. Her favorite store is Goodwill.

"It's like a treasure hunt!" she said.

Carl Nes, president of the West End Neighborhood Association, considers Om a friend.

"We love her," he said. "Suna has reached out and gotten to know nearly everyone active in the West End," he said.

There is no denying the crime problem in the West End, Nes said, but the area is trying to recover from the mortgage crisis. It will hold a tour of homes next month to highlight the positive side.

The consummate wheeler-dealer, Om is always looking for a deal.

She drives around in her Toyota Prius, pointing out the sights, as conservative talk show host Neal Boortz yaks on the radio.

"See, this block needs to come down," Om says, pointing to older buildings in the West End's commercial center. "But if I start it, I think they will start it too" she said. "I'm the new kid on the block."

Om is continuing a trend that's already in progress, Simmons said.

Baseball legend Hank Aaron opened a big, new Krispy Kreme across from Om's Smart Dollar Store.

H.J. Russell & Co. built the Sky Lofts in West End in the old Sears building.

Simmons supports the hotel idea, as the neighborhood doesn't have one now.

"It's going to change the image of the West End," he said. "She'll probably be providing jobs within the community too," he said.

Atlanta City Councilwoman Cleta Winslow is a long-time West End resident. She hopes the hotel becomes a reality. The last time there was talk of a hotel was about 30 years ago, she said.

"I think it's good somebody's coming in with big ideas," Winslow said. "If you don't shoot for the moon, you won't reach the stars."

The infrastructure in the West End is the best deal, said Om. The MARTA station, Interstate 20, the historically black colleges, and the proposed beltline, or intown trolley, are all pluses.

She first learned of the West End when Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin called commercial developers together to tell them about the proposed beltline that would ring Atlanta's in-town neighborhoods. That was about four years ago.

Last week Om became the 19th president of the Korean-American Chamber of Commerce. Franklin attended her party at a Korean restaurant on Buford Highway. Om gave the mayor a burgundy flower for her lapel.

Om envisions the parents of students at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges and Clark-Atlanta University taking the MARTA train from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to the West End.

"They can come straight from the airport, here to my hotel," she said.