Atlanta News

Specifics, fresh images for Doraville's new downtown emerge Josh Green Fri, 05/16/2025 - 12:24

City of Doraville officials announced last month the vibrant, walkable downtown they’ve been trying to build for more than 20 years will kick off construction this summer. Exactly how the phased project will roll out is now becoming clearer. 

The city and its master-developer partner Kaufman Capital Partners have now finalized contracts with a lead architect (McMillan Pazdan Smith) and general contractor (Choate Construction) to start building Doraville City Center on 13 city-owned acres, situated between New Peachtree Road and Buford Highway. 

The ITP parcels are also adjacent to the Doraville MARTA Station and northwest of Spaghetti Junction, near Assembly Atlanta. 

With the team in place, city center officials tell Urbanize Atlanta the planning and design of what’s called the Core Project Phase has started. 

Before demolition and site work kicks off, the current Doraville City Hall, police station, and other civic functions on site now will relocate to a mixed-use property renovated by Kaufman Capital adjacent to the nearby Lumen Doraville Apartments, recently completed on Tilly Mill Road and Peachtree Boulevard. That’s expected to happen in late June or early July. 

The first phase will include development of the “Doraville People’s Building,” a multi-use municipal space that will house Doraville’s City Hall, library, and other aspects meant to serve the community, officials say. Other facets of initial development will build the downtown street grid, a large City Green public greenspace, stormwater detention, and other infrastructure. 

Fresh imagery depicting the scope of the planned public lawn area and retail. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

How the Doraville People's Building (top left) is expected to front the central greenspace. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

The first phase is projected to take roughly 14 to 18 months to complete, once all design plans are finalized and required permitting and other construction paperwork is in place. It’s expected to cost about $35 million, per preliminary cost estimates.

While all the above is being built, two restaurant pads next to the City Green, fronting Park Avenue, are expected to launch construction as well. The goal is to further activate the public green once it’s finished. 

As detailed in city center’s conceptual master plan, the project’s second phase will include more commercial spaces around the City Green, alongside multifamily, commercial, and mixed-use facets on parcels not owned by the city. 

Some components of phase two could move forward as construction on the first is underway, depending on market conditions, according to officials. 

Across the street, a Kaufman Capital multifamily development at 5407 Buford Highway is expected to go under construction as the core city center project is rising—an effort to bring more people and potential customers to the immediate area. 

Breakdown of new streets and blocks planned at Doraville City Center. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Garry Sobel, a Kaufman Capital partner and the project’s master planner, said in an announcement this week city center’s goal is to reflect Doraville’s history, spirit, and energy. “It’s our hope that [the project] will not only act as a central gathering space for the community but also as a catalyst for growth along the corridor.”

Added Doraville City Manager Chris Eldridge: “We’re creating a downtown that will transform the city’s core into a thriving, welcoming, and enduring destination.”

Find a rundown of where Doraville’s made-from-scratch city center will materialize, and what it could entail in coming years, in the gallery above. 

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New Peachtree Road at Central Avenue Kaufman Capital HGOR Flippo Civil Design City of Doraville ITP MARTA Assembly Atlanta Doraville MARTA Station Spaghetti Junction Downtown Doraville McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture Choate Construction Doraville City Center Kaufman Capital Partners Garry Sobel

Images

Broad view of 13 acres of parcels Doraville owns for redevelopment in relation to Spaghetti Junction (bottom right), Interstate 285, and other landmarks. Google Maps

Breakdown of new streets and blocks planned at Doraville City Center. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Fresh imagery depicting the scope of the planned public lawn area and retail. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Overview of how the full Doraville City Center project is expected to look and function in coming years. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

How the Doraville People's Building (top left) is expected to front the central greenspace. Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

Courtesy of City of Doraville/ Kaufman Capital Partners

General location of the city-owned parcels in question, excluding the church property and others fronting Buford Highway. Google Maps

Subtitle Officials: Core phase of 13-acre Doraville City Center to start in weeks; more development could follow soon

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Portman project signing; Five Points redo looms; Streets Alive goes south Josh Green Thu, 05/15/2025 - 16:41

MIDTOWN—The prospects of Portman’s block-size Midtown development becoming a foodie destination continue to look up. 

Portman officials announced this week a high-end, tapas-style Indian restaurant with “a vibrant social vibe” called Pataaka will be joining two other chef-driven concepts at Spring Quarter. 

Pataaka is scheduled to open a 113-seat space later this year at the ground floor of Sora, Spring Quarter’s luxury residential tower component. Expect an outdoor patio and soaring mezzanine space for private dining designed by The Johnson Studio at Cooper Carry, with Atlanta-based Indian chef Anish Nair at the helm. It’ll mark the restaurant’s sixth location and first in Georgia. 

An updated visual for the core of Spring Quarter, with the 1020 Spring building at right. Courtesy of Portman

Rendering depicting the expected look of Pataaka's interiors. Courtesy of Portman

Other confirmed restaurant concepts at Spring Quarter include Louisiana “urban Mexican” concept Habaneros and Sozou, a new Japanese modern concept from celebrated chef Fuyuhiko Ito. Both are now expected to open this fall. The Sozou team also plans to open a concept called Omakase at ISHIN by Ito on the 8th-floor rooftop of Ten Twenty, the project’s office high-rise completed last year.  

Spring Quarter is anchored by the historic H.M. Patterson Home and Gardens, which Portman is converting to “a dynamic retail and entertainment amenity for the community” called The Patterson, officials said this week. 

Steve Palmer, an Atlanta native and founder of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, was revealed in late 2023 as the restaurateur who will lease and transform all 24,000 square feet of The Patterson into what’s been described as a morning-to-night, food-and-beverage destination with multiple facets. We’ve asked Portman reps this week whether that concept is still moving forward as planned, and we’ll update this story with any additional info that comes. 

Courtesy of Portman

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SOUTHSIDE—Come Sunday, Atlanta’s favorite open-streets festival will be taking its talents to a long route south of downtown again. 

From 2 to 6 p.m., Atlanta Streets Alive will return to its 3.4-mile “historic Southside corridor” for the first time in 2025, opening Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Georgia Avenue from West End to Grant Park, with Mechanicsville and Summerhill’s commercial district in between.

Sunday's route was also used for three Atlanta Streets Alive programs in late 2024 between Gordon-White Park (left) and Grant Park. Propel ATL

Event organizers Propel ATL send word this week that cultural sponsor Music in the Park will be curating seven live performance stages along the route Sunday. “From local jazz to R&B, brass bands to soulful singer-songwriters,” notes Propel ATL, “every block [will pulse] with the rhythm of Atlanta’s neighborhoods and the spirit of community.”

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DOWNTOWN—At long last, the $230-million remake of MARTA’s largest and busiest station will officially kick off Saturday, following a contentious, nearly year-long pause. 

During construction, Five Points rail service and transfers will operate as scheduled and won’t be impacted, per MARTA. The same goes for bus routes around Five Points operated by regional transit providers CobbLinc, Ride Gwinnett, and Xpress. 

Expect a number of downtown bus routes to be changed come Saturday, followed by the closure of customer services on June 6 including the RideStore, Lost & Found, and Reduced Fare office. 

MARTA says these amenities will also temporarily close, come June 6: restrooms, the five points Station Soccer field, MARTA Market, community garden, and the tunnel leading to federal offices. 

A refined preview depicting how the opened-up transit hub could look and function. Courtesy of MARTA

MARTA has said 17,000 pedestrians and bus riders rely on Five Points to access the MARTA heavy rail system each day. The $230-million price tag for Five Points’ overhaul is being largely funded by the More MARTA Atlanta half-penny sales tax approved by Atlanta voters in 2016. Other funding sources include $13.8 million from the State of Georgia and a $25-million Federal RAISE Grant. 

MARTA says the broader goal remains to convert Five Points station into “a vibrant city center with improved transit connectivity, increased safety, and enhanced customer amenities.” 

Regarding bus routes, MARTA has outlined the changes scheduled to begin soon as follows:  

BUS SERVICE IMPACTS BEGINNING MAY 17:

The following routes will stop at Five Points on Forsyth Street:

• 3 – Martin Luther King Jr. Drive/Auburn Avenue
• 40 – Peachtree Street/Downtown
• 813 – Atlanta University Center
• 21 – Memorial Drive
• 49 – McDonough Boulevard
• 55 – Jonesboro Road
• 107 – Glenwood
• 186 – Rainbow Road Drive/South DeKalb

Three bus routes will be detoured to maintain service to downtown and no longer stop at Five Points:

• 26 – Marietta Street/Perry Boulevard
• 42 – Pryor Road
• 816 – North Highland Avenue

The following routes will terminate at Georgia State station:

• 21 – Memorial Drive
• 42 – Pryor Road
• 49 – McDonough Boulevard
• 55 – Jonesboro Road
• 107 – Glenwood
• 186 – Rainbow Road Drive/South DeKalb

The following routes will terminate at King Memorial station:

• 26 – Marietta Street/Perry Boulevard
• 813 – Atlanta University Center
• 899 – Old Fourth Ward

The following route will terminate at Civic Center station:

• 816 – North Highland Avenue

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ATL News Roundup Portman Portman Architecture Spring Quarter Atlanta Streets Alive Propel ATL West End Grant Park Five Points Five Points Development Five Points MARTA Station Five Points Station MARTA Atlanta Festivals The Johnson Studio Cooper Carry Music in the Park

Images

An updated visual for the core of Spring Quarter, with the 1020 Spring building at right. Courtesy of Portman

Rendering depicting the expected look of Pataaka's interiors. Courtesy of Portman

Courtesy of Portman

Sunday's route was also used for three Atlanta Streets Alive programs in late 2024 between Gordon-White Park (left) and Grant Park. Propel ATL

Atlanta Streets Alive on Georgia Avenue in Summerhill in the late teens. Urbanize ATL archives

Subtitle Real estate, architecture, and urban planning news from around Atlanta

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