Crescent Communities Breaks Ground on Suburban Atlanta Project
The development is taking shape at the site of a former shopping mall.
Crescent Communities, in partnership with EDENS and NTT Urban Development, has broken ground on Novel Lulah Hills, a 303-unit multifamily community in Decatur, Ga. The project is part of the redevelopment of the former North DeKalb Mall.
Novel Lulah Hills is the first vertical component of the project. The six-story building will offer studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units, as well as 39,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. First move-ins are expected in late 2027.
The community will include the Mercantile Club, an interactive resident hub, as well as a a resort-inspired courtyard and pool with cabanas, a fitness studio called the Rose Room and the Gathering Place, a diner-inspired lounge.
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Plans for the Lulah Hills redevelopment, which is on a 78-acre site, call for a total of 1,800 residential units, along with 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, a new Publix grocery store, and green spaces that connect to nearby landmarks including the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve and Emory University.
When it comes online, Novel Lulah Hills will be located approximately seven miles outside Atlanta.
Additions at the redevelopment
EDENS acquired the North DeKalb Mall property in 2021 and began demolition in mid-2024, with master site work beginning in early 2025. The Publix store, an AMC Theatres cinema and a Marshalls outlet remain from the previous mall.
EDENS is bringing in new retailers to the site, including Anthropologie, Design Within Reach, Herman Miller, Firepit Pizza Tavern and Honeysuckle Gelato, among others. The local chain Refuge Coffee will open this spring in a former gas station near the property.
Japan-based NTT Urban Development is the capital partner on the project, its latest U.S. investment. The company has been active in other major American markets, including New York, Boston and Dallas. Novel Lulah Hills marks NTTUD’s second collaboration with Crescent Communities and its first investment in the Atlanta market.
Other members of the Novel Lulah Hills development team include interior designer Bandura Design and architecture firm Dwell Design Studio. Fortune-Johnson is the project’s general contractor, while LandDesign is the landscape architect.
Crescent Communities and EDENS previously collaborated on Novel Atherton in Charlotte’s Atherton Mill neighborhood and Novel Upper Westside in Atlanta’s Moores Mill district. Novel West Midtown, a recent development near the future Westside Beltline Trail and Westside Reservoir Park, stabilized late last year.
Development robust in greater Atlanta
Developers added 22,026 multifamily units in metro Atlanta in 2025, according to Yardi Matrix data. That’s the fourth-highest delivery volume in the nation.
In February, Thompson Thrift started work on Lineage, a 300-unit community in Dacula, Ga., whose first units are scheduled for delivery in April 2028. The four-story property will occupy 15 acres and feature one- to three-bedroom floorplans.
That same month, Toro Development Co. broke ground on Overlook, a 301-unit multifamily development within the 95-acre Cumming City Center mixed-use district in Cumming, Ga. The first units at the development will be delivered in the fall of 2027.
