Historic Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs recently opened a two-level mausoleum with 59,000 square feet of space, allowing for 1,900 niches and 800 crypts.
Glass fronts and interior lighting to view urns and personal keepsakes are found at 1,430 of the niches in the Legacy Chapel, a release said.
Niches address a growing national trend in memorials as cremation rates are expected to increase significantly at 82.1 percent this year, while burial rates are projected to drop to 13.3 percent, according to the National Funeral Directors Association 2024 Cremation and Burial Report.
“We also built in an event space that is, at once, intimate for small gatherings or expansive enough to accommodate large groups with beautiful, natural lighting and, creating a unique memorial option for families,” Dave Hass, senior managing director of Arlington Memorial Park, said in the release.
This fifth mausoleum at Arlington Memorial Park is the first built in nearly 30 years, the release said.
“In the cemetery services industry, we qualify capacity by years and Arlington Memorial Park has the capacity of more than 50 years,” Scott Young, managing director of Dignity Memorial, told Rough Draft.
Young said Arlington was selected for this first-of-its-kind mausoleum due to its premier standing in the community, its natural pristine beauty, and the Atlanta marketplace. It celebrated its centennial in 2022.
Arlington Memorial Park engaged Robert Day Architecture starting in the fall of 2021 and broke ground in November 2022. The park engaged local design firm Jamie Kirkman Interiors in February 2024 and the team collaborated on fixtures, lighting, flooring, and other features of the mausoleum.
The non-denominational cemetery is operated by Dignity Memorial, a network of about 1,900 funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers.
