Marjan Yavari to welcome tenants with a good cause.

Marjan Yavari, a local investor, is in the process of redeveloping 381, 383, and 393 Edgewood Avenue Northeast.

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Her project is inspired by the Baha’i Center located in the neighborhood. Before even the civil rights movement, the center sought racial unity since its inception in 1948. It has been a pillar of the community on Edgewood Avenue ever since, being a gathering place as well as a center that looked after the homeless population in the surrounding area.

“I want the block to be a place of dignity and integrity,” Yavari told What Now Atlanta (WNA) Monday. The goal of the development will be to attract neighborhood-friendly businesses to the development to be an extension of what the Baha’i has stood for, in order to benefit residents of the area: “I am open to anyone with a good cause.”

Yavari’s ideal tenants will bring along more daytime activity for the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, which is currently a nightlife hot spot. She does not plan on housing any tenants who will want to have liquor licenses for their establishments, but has hopes to attract businesses that promote healthy nutrition in an area that is regarded by many as a food desert. Currently, she is in talks with a food education non-profit who may become a tenant in one of her buildings. One of the properties will be developed as green space.

Female entrepreneurship is another cause Yavari cares about, and will seek to promote woman-owned businesses as well.

393 Edgewood is the winner of an Invest Atlanta facade improvement grant of $111,625.

381’s cost of construction will total to $257,037, according to a permit filed with City of Atlanta.

Yavari told WNA that she has gotten many offers from developers who want to buy the properties, but she will not sell.

Do you think cause-oriented businesses are much needed in Sweet Auburn? Tell us below…