DeKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- A metro Atlanta mall will be leveled to make way for a new project if a rezoning plan goes through, an attorney confirmed to 11Alive on Wednesday.
Kathryn M. Zickert, an attorney with Smith, Gambrell and Russell Law said that Sterling Organization, which owns the North DeKalb Mall on Lawrenceville Highway intends to demolish the location and replace it with a mixed-use development.
Zickert represents a controlled interest of Sterling and said that the hope is to replace the aging mall with a project that will include retail, office, hotel and residential space as well as restaurants - not unlike other open-air malls around metro Atlanta. She also confirmed plans to bring a Costco store to the location.
The company has already begun holding community meetings with the neighborhood in advance of the item being proposed to county zoning authorities - though that won't happen sooner than fall, Zickert said.
While the move may come as a surprise to some, it was hinted at the very day Sterling announced its purchase of North DeKalb Mall in 2014.
In a statement made shortly after the acquisition, Sterling and partner Lennar Commercial Investors announced their intent to convert the enclosed portion of the property to an open-air concept.
Fast forward to 2018 and Zickert said the conceptual site plan is already underway.
North DeKalb Mall has sat at the corner of Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills since 1965. It currently has one anchor store - Burlington Coat Factory - but a Marshals and AMC Theaters location also inhabit the location along with a handful of smaller merchants.
One of the largest tenants of the mall, Macy's, closed years before.
Right now, there is no exact timeline for when the demolition will begin since it depends upon zoning approval that's still months away.
