Design and Construction Report staff writer
A former Atlanta elementary school will be redeveloped into a mixed-use property with housing and commercial space, with construction expected to begin in late 2027.
Ali-Graceline Development, a joint venture of Ali Development LLC and Graceline Partners LLC, has been selected as the development partner for the former Lakewood Heights Elementary School at 335 Sawtell Ave. SE.
The Atlanta Board of Education approved the development agreement and ground lease on Sept. 1, followed by approval from the Atlanta Urban Development (AUD) board on Sept. 24.
The approvals mark the first joint development agreement between Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and AUD, moving the project from planning and procurement into predevelopment.
Plans call for the adaptive reuse of the original 1932 school building as part of a 54,721-square-foot mixed-use development. The project will include 42,721 square feet of residential space and 12,000 square feet of commercial space.
The school occupies approximately 2.15 acres in the Lakewood Heights neighbourhood. The original building is considered historically significant and is a contributing landmark within the Lakewood Heights Historic District. Preserving the structure is central to the redevelopment plan.
According to the project partners, community engagement helped establish priorities for the redevelopment, including historic preservation, mixed-income housing, pedestrian-friendly design and commercial uses that serve the neighbourhood.
“Public land should work for the public, and that means creating homes, opportunity and stronger neighborhoods for the people who already call them home,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said.
The property is located in a priority neighbourhood under the city’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, a multi-year program intended to strengthen underserved communities through targeted investment, anti-displacement measures and public-private partnerships.
John Majors, president and CEO of AUD, said the project will preserve a neighbourhood landmark while creating housing opportunities.
“Lakewood Heights is about more than redeveloping a property,” Majors said. “It is about preserving an important neighborhood landmark while putting public land to work to create housing that serves Atlanta families for generations.”
The redevelopment is part of a broader partnership between APS, AUD and the city to convert underused public properties into community assets while maintaining long-term public stewardship of the land. Lakewood Heights was selected as one of the partnership’s initial redevelopment sites.
APS Superintendent Bryan Johnson said the project will retain part of the city’s history while creating new housing opportunities.
The project team will now begin further predevelopment work, including design and financing, before construction. Work is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027.
AUD is a nonprofit subsidiary of the Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta that works to redevelop publicly owned land into mixed-income communities while maintaining long-term affordability and public stewardship.
