I’ve written previously about Rich’s and the history of North DeKalb Mall. My most recent update was in July of 2022 when it was announced that owner Edens was planning to demolish the mall and build a live-work-play development. According to a May 17, 2023 article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, North DeKalb Mall is scheduled for demolition later this year. The AMC 16 movie theater at the mall will not be demolished.
I was recently at the mall’s theater and one change I noticed is a wall built where the theater was previously accessible from the mall.
North DeKalb Mall was the first air-conditioned and enclosed mall in the Atlanta area. The Covid pandemic hurt local malls, however many had already seen a decrease in customers.
AMC 16 theater at North DeKalb Mall is now blocked off from the mall area. Later this year, the mall will be demolished but the theater is not slated for demolition.
The development will be called Lulah Hills, a name which was originally planned for a neighborhood north of Decatur decades ago. Decaturish.com says the name originally came from landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Lulah Hills will include 1700 apartments, 100 townhouses, a hotel, restaurants and retail space. There will also be a mixed-use trail that connects to other trails connecting to Emory University.
Local Atlanta history tour guide and podcaster Victoria Lemos recently released an interesting and informative podcast about Atlanta malls. She focuses on malls inside I-285. You can find it here.
