New mixed-use Buford Highway district takes step forward

Josh Green

Mon, 01/06/2025 – 15:21

Back in November, developers behind a long-planned shopping, dining, and residential district at a vast, vacant Buford Highway site vowed to finally get the wheels of development moving in the new year.

Six days into 2025, signs appear to be pointing in a positive direction for nearby residents who’ve grown tired of the “eyesore” property in Doraville.

Atlanta-based real estate investment firm Insignia filed plans with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs on Dec. 30 to have its Lotus Grove project assessed at the state level as a potential Development of Regional Impact, given its large scope.

The state agency concluded today the Doraville project does indeed warrant a review by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

The DRI classification, which applies to projects large enough to effect multiple jurisdictions, is meant to streamline the development process and help gather local input.

Insignia’s project description for Lotus Grove predicts it will bring urbanization to Buford Highway and help revitalize the popular foodie destination. But it’s been a long time coming.

Updated look at a courtyard and food hall plans for Doraville’s Lotus Grove. Courtesy of Insignia

Situated just outside the Interstate 285 loop, a Kmart Big K long operated on the 13-acre Doraville property at 5597 Buford Highway until it shuttered in 2010. The shopping center’s remains were fully cleared more than two years ago. That appeared to set the stage for Lotus Grove—and the continuation of development trends in nearby cities such as Chamblee and Dunwoody that are leaning into urban-style, mixed-use nodes.

Eti Lazarian, Insignia’s general operations director, told Urbanize Atlanta in November initial Lotus Grove phases were on pace to see vertical construction in summer 2025, with an expected total cost north of $300 million.

Alongside low-rise retail and restaurants (to include a food hall), Lotus Grove’s initial phase calls for a 12-story building—the tallest in Doraville, per project officials—that would include 456 apartments and perks such as a pool and fitness center. Elsewhere, Lazarian said construction schedules call for delivering Lotus Grove’s retail and residential components by sometime in 2027.

According to the DRI submission, the full project would see 780 multifamily units, a 160-room hotel, and just shy of 67,000 square feet of retail and restaurant development.

The schedule calls for completing it in 2028, per the filing.

Miami-based developer Resia, the company behind a five-building residential project on Memorial Drive and another in Douglasville, is gearing up to build the first phase of residential, called Resia Lotus Grove, per company officials.

Infrastructure work on the residential tower has begun, and full development is on pace to start this year, per Resia officials.

The latest plans for low-rise retail facades in the 5500 block of Buford Highway. Courtesy of Insignia

The cleared, 13-acre site, as seen along Buford Highway this past summer. Google Maps

According to Insignia’s website, Lotus Grove will eventually see two 12-story residential towers as part of roughly 1 million square feet of new construction. Other facets would include a public park designed to be activated for events.

Three years ago, Doraville’s Downtown Development Authority issued roughly $120 million worth of revenue bonds that Insignia will have to pay back, plus a tax abatement in the ballpark of $40 million.

The Lotus Grove site is less than a mile from the initial phase of Doraville’s Assembly Atlanta TV and film studio and greenspace complex, which has risen from the ashes of a razed General Motors plant. Elsewhere in the city, plans are percolating for a made-from-scratch downtown district that would help lend Doraville identity, while an infill residential project called Camino is under construction on a previously vacant lot.

Find more Lotus Grove context and the latest available imagery in the gallery above.

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