In the pipeline for more than four years, and technically under construction since 2021, a unique eastside project with a repurposed Masonic Lodge at its core is gearing up to restart soon after unforeseen delays related to post-pandemic fallout in the construction industry, developers tell Urbanize Atlanta.
Located where Ormewood Park meets the East Atlanta Village, mixed-use venture The Lodge broke ground two years ago at the southwest corner of Glenwood and Moreland avenue’s intersection, combining eight parcels that previously housed individual homes, a parking lot, and ancillary buildings.
Prior to demolition work, the development team held communal design meetings and collected more than 600 surveys from residents to help determine what the community wanted built.
One nonnegotiable component for most survey respondents—affordable housing—is the source of a hang-up that’s left the site idle for more than a year, according to Jesse Clark, a principal with developer Clark Property R+D.
Clark tells Urbanize Atlanta his team is in a closing cue for state affordable housing funding that’s currently clogged with similar projects impacted by drastic cost increases following COVID-19. Spikes related to inflation and supply-chain issues have created such a gap between funding approved by the state in 2020 and current costs that The Lodge project had to be shut down following the completion of site work in 2021, Clark says.
The cleared site and Masonic Lodge, as seen in January next to reconfigured Glenwood Avenue. Google Maps
Clark said this week he expects construction to resume sometime this summer, as additional state-level funding has been approved to help see The Lodge and other projects through.
“This is not something we can control or force,” Clark wrote via email, sharing an update he recently posted on a community forum. “This project would have been much simpler, more profitable, and complete by now if we…
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