Mixed-use development pitched for aging Sandy Springs office campus

The structures would take the place of four office buildings on the 30-acre site. Insignia estimates it will complete the project by 2032.

Insignia did not respond to a request for comment.

The Embassy Row project is one of several redevelopments of aging office campuses that have been proposed in Atlanta within the past decade. With many of them remaining half-empty since the onset of the pandemic, developers and city planners have begun to reimagine denser, pedestrian-friendly uses for their sprawling lots and low-rise buildings.

Less than a mile from the Embassy Row property, Ardent Companies is looking to refresh a power retail center at Mount Vernon Highway and Abernathy Road with new tenants, add apartments and improve connectivity across the site.

In Johns Creek, Toro Redevelopment Company is redeveloping the former State Farm campus into Medley, which will include more than 880 luxury apartments and townhomes, 110,000 square feet of office space and restaurant, retail and entertainment tenants. It’s expected to open in late October.

Last year, Portman acquired the 20-acre Brookside Office Park in Alpharetta with plans to build residences, office and retail and restaurant space connected by gathering areas and pedestrian pathways.

Insignia acquired the Sandy Springs property at the end of 2023 through a deed in lieu of foreclosure, a process that allows the landlord to hand over a property to another entity instead of beginning the foreclosure process. It paid $34.5 million for the note tied to a $60 million loan.

At the time, the office property counted Newell Brands and the for-profit American InterContinental University as tenants. Newell has since relocated to 5 Concourse Parkway, known as the Queen building. The building that previously housed the Art Institute of Atlanta before its closure was not part of the initial acquisition.

Embassy Row is about a half mile from MARTA’s Sandy Springs and North Springs stations. On another part of the campus, two apartment buildings are under construction. The 6-acre Solis Embassy Row project will include 341 units.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

The Embassy Row project is not the only proposed mixed-use development in Insignia’s portfolio, which includes offices, shopping centers and one hotel, mostly clustered in the suburbs. Last year, the group filed a DRI for a $300 million redevelopment of a shuttered Kmart in Doraville. The project, called Lotus Grove, will include 780 apartments, a 168-room hotel, a food hall, retail spaces and a civic center for Doraville.