Short Takes

MARTA seeks partners for new homes, more at Lindbergh Center

November 10, 2025November 10, 2025

By David Pendered

Nov. 10 – Atlanta’s main transit agency is testing the market’s interest in building a residential/commercial project at Lindbergh Center. The response could shed light on the near-term future of the region’s transit-oriented developments in a return-to-office environment as housing costs remain beyond the reach of many would-be buyers.

Major developers have expressed an appetite to collaborate with MARTA to build on a vacant site at 2562 Piedmont Road. The 0.87-acre tract is located between a Chick-fil-A restaurant and the long-shuttered Shoney’s restaurant, according to MARTA’s request for proposals.

MARTA is seeking partners to develop homes and commercial uses on a prime site in Buckhead. (Credit: David Pendered)

A dozen companies sent representatives to a Sept. 18 pre-proposal conference MARTA hosted to discuss the project and tour the site. Proposals are due Dec. 10.

Attendees included AECOM, which absorbed EDAW, the company that developed Centennial Olympic Park; Walter P. Moore, which developed the $1.8 billion home of the Los Angeles Clippers; and long-time local developers, Atlanta-based Winter Construction and Columbia Ventures, according to the attendance list.

The RFP cites three parcels. Only the one facing Piedmont Road is to be developed. The other two, also at MARTA’s 47-acre Lindbergh site, are to be retained for greenspace and have their development rights transferred to 2562 Piedmont Road, thereby enhancing development opportunities there. Zoning is in place for dense, mixed-use development.

Terms note that MARTA expects the winning proponent to “ground lease the subject property in order to implement a plan meeting TOD [transit-oriented development] objectives,” for a lease period of 99 years. MARTA’s TOD guidelines state the agency’s preference to lease property rather than sell it, unless a fee simple title is needed to facilitate for-sale projects such as dwellings.

MARTA’s TOD concept intends to provide revenue benefits for the agency, local governments and the community.

MARTA benefits from ground leases and increased ridership. Local governments, and MARTA, benefit from an enhanced tax base. Community benefits include reduced traffic congestion and a lower level of air quality issues, due to the denser developments that promote walking, transit and other modes of transportation.