North DeKalb Mall is about to be demolished, with few things being spared — including its name.
Edens, the company spearheading the mall’s redevelopment, said the project will be renamed Lulah Hills. That is the name of what had been a planned suburban residential community once planned in the area northeast of Decatur decades ago. Demolition is scheduled to begin later this year.
The rebrand ends North DeKalb Mall’s 57-year history, where the shopping center was seen as a pioneer among metro Atlanta’s retail hubs, serving as the area’s first enclosed and air-conditioned mall. But in recent years, it has struggled to meet modern trends, earning the moniker as on of the region’s deadest malls — a reputation Edens aims to change.
“This place will once again enrich community through innovative design, thoughtful curation and active engagement, just as it was known for almost 60 years,” Herbert Ames, managing director at Edens, said in a news release last week.
Credit: Edens
Credit: Edens
Edens plans to convert the 73-acre site along North Druid Hills Road into 1,700 apartments, 100 town homes, a 150-room hotel and some 320,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. An existing AMC theater will be preserved. A multi-use trail is also planned to connect the redevelopment to Emory University.
Edens also developed Atlanta’s West Village community and North Druid Hill’s Toco Hills mall. The company purchased North DeKalb Mall for an undisclosed price in 2021 with the goal of transforming it into a massive live-work-play district. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners rezoned the property last year, paving the way for Edens multi-phased reimagination of the site.
Representatives for Edens previously said 10% of the housing built onsite would be reserved for below-market rate prices. The company did not ask for a tax abatement.
Credit: Edens
Credit: Edens
Instead, the county commission approved a tax allocation district, or TAD, around the site to capture future increases in property tax revenue to funnel back into the area rather than the county at-large. The money can be used to pay for public infrastructure and other amenities within the TAD’s borders.
Malls around metro Atlanta and across the country have struggled in recent years to attract shoppers. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, several malls are being reimagined or redesigned to incorporate apartments, office space, entertainment attractions and other mixed-use aspects.
Edens did not detail what elements of Lulah Hills will be prioritized, but the redevelopment’s first phase is expected to finish construction by 2025.
Credit: Stonecrest Resorts
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