Spur Hospitality is bringing its Oaxacan-inspired restaurant Cuevacía to the heart of Lulah Hills, the sprawling mixed-use development rising from the ashes of North DeKalb Mall. The second location will occupy a freestanding, two-story space built with cave-style booths, a covered patio and a cactus garden wrapped around an interior water feature, and it's set to open in late 2027.
Spur Hospitality announced the move, confirming the company signed a lease with developer Edens for the new spot, according to decaturish.com. The restaurant will take up a freestanding 2,600-square-foot space at the center of the project, a step up from the 2,000-square-foot footprint of Cuevacía's original location at Colony Square in Midtown Atlanta, which Colony Square describes as a two-floor, full-service venue.
Per the news release cited by decaturish, the name Cuevacía combines Spanish words meaning empty cave or empty tomb, a nod to the design language that will define the Lulah Hills build-out. The new location is planned to feature meandering hallways, intimate caves, arches and hidden surprises, along with second-floor cave-style booths, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the streetscape, and a fully covered patio outfitted with fans and heating elements. A walk-up to-go window rounds out the planned layout.
Oaxacan Menu Built Around Mezcal and Scratch Cooking
Cuevacía features a scratch-made menu built around Oaxacan cooking, with signature dishes including tetelas, chilaquiles, tres leches and huachinango oaxaqueño, the restaurant's description notes. The concept also leans into a mezcal program, curated cocktail culture and a collection of Spanish and Latin American wines, and it serves lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. William Pitts, founder and CEO of Spur Hospitality, said Lulah Hills represents an exciting new chapter for north Decatur and surrounding communities.
The Lulah Hills restaurant will mark the fourth location in Spur Hospitality's growing portfolio, joining Cuevacía and Saints+Council at Colony Square along with an upcoming Saints+Council planned for Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, according to tonetoatl.com. Pitts opened Saints + Council at Colony Square in December 2021 as his first dining concept, per Colony Square's account.
A Mall's Second Life in North Decatur
Lulah Hills is being built on the former North DeKalb Mall site, with decaturish reporting that demolition of the mall began in July 2024; Edens, the project's developer, has separately said demolition began in June 2024. Once complete, the broader project is expected to include nearly 2,000 new housing units, mostly apartments — though Crescent Communities has described the larger Lulah Hills vision as including 1,800 residential units, and other project materials have cited a mix of roughly 1,700 multifamily units plus townhomes. The development will set aside 10% of its units for workforce housing and will include a retail incubator, the same report notes.
The first wave of new retail at Lulah Hills is expected to open in early 2027, with the first residential units becoming available later that year, though Edens has specifically pegged the retail opening to the first quarter of 2027 in its own announcement. Confirmed or announced tenants at the development include Anthropologie, Design Within Reach, Firepit Pizza Tavern, Foxtail Coffee Co., Herman Miller, Honeysuckle Gelato, LaserAway, The Les Mains Nail Bar, L.L.Bean, Marshalls, Publix and Solidcore.
Public Dollars Behind the Redevelopment
The project has drawn public financing support as well. The Decide DeKalb Development Authority board unanimously approved a $70 million Pay-As-You-Go program within the Market Square Tax Allocation District to support infrastructure improvements, with eligible project costs incurred by Edens potentially reimbursed over 15 years. The authority's materials also affirm that Lulah Hills includes integrated workforce and affordable housing equal to 10% of the units.
Developers have described Lulah Hills as one of the first full redevelopments of a former urban mall in Georgia, as reported by WSB Radio. The site has also been compared to a ground-up lifestyle center in the vein of Halcyon or The Battery Atlanta, according to Urbanize Atlanta, which also reported plans for green space, 92 for-sale townhomes and a 150-key hotel as part of the broader build-out.
