The 2026 FIFA World Cup gave Underground Atlanta the busiest stretch in its modern history. Now its owner wants to convert that month of noise into something permanent: more places to eat, and — harder — more people living upstairs.
Shaneel Lalani, who heads Lalani Ventures and bought the historic retail district out of a long decline, told Urbanize Atlanta that the tournament delivered the single biggest day Underground has seen in years. Roughly 25,000 Argentina supporters filled the district around the semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and existing tenants including Utopia, Underground Diner and China Breeze each posted their best days and best weeks on record.
A food hall at Alabama and Pryor
The first piece of the follow-through is a six-station food hall going into the former Foot Locker space at the corner of Alabama and Pryor streets. Lalani put the construction window at about eight months and is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for opening.
The location matters. Alabama and Pryor is the seam between Underground's below-grade core and the street-level foot traffic moving between Five Points MARTA station and the Georgia State University campus — the crossing that has to work if Underground is going to function as an everyday destination rather than an event-day one.
150 apartments at 34 Peachtree
The bigger bet is residential. The 34 Peachtree office tower is being converted to 150 apartments across 10 floors, in a mix of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Demolition is finished and framing has started, with delivery expected sometime in 2027. Lalani put the cost in the tens of millions and estimated the building will add roughly 200 residents to the blocks around Underground.
Lalani also pointed to 2 Peachtree and 5 Peachtree as part of the same downtown pipeline. Underground itself is about 65 percent leased, with Kenny's Alley fully leased; he wants the overall district above 90 percent.
The math problem nobody has solved
The candid part of the interview was about financing. Lalani said downtown residential conversions do not work on their own numbers — the gap between achievable rents and construction costs is too wide — and that public incentives are what make the difference between a project that happens and one that does not.
"Without the government incentives, you can't pencil in these deals," he said, describing the alternative as "impossible." In practice, he has been self-funding rather than waiting on conventional construction financing.
That constraint is the through-line connecting most of downtown's stalled housing announcements, and it is why the residential count matters more than the retail count. Lalani framed the clock in concrete terms: Atlanta hosts the Super Bowl in 2028, and he would rather the city arrive at that with a resident base than another round of event-week crowds.
Reported by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, July 24, 2026. Read the full Q&A at Urbanize Atlanta.
