Cleared lot in shadow of downtown wants a million bucks. Any big ideas?

A million-dollar question afoot in Sweet Auburn at the moment: What constitutes a good deal—or not—when it comes to a blank slate of developable land?

A double corner lot asking just shy of that amount ($990,000) listed last month in what’s been a development hot zone for years, but so far the deal has no takers.

Atlanta zoning ordinances mean the lot’s R5 classification restricts development to “two-family residential” at 408 Gartrell Street SE. It’s not quite 1/5th of an acre.

The lot has been cleared for at least a decade—since the days when fallow land and blighted buildings were more common in the neighborhood.

In more recent years, multifamily investment activity in surrounding blocks has included Epic Development’s 24-unit Four15 Stacks and renovations of the 1960s Avery apartments on nearby Chamberlain Street, among other projects. 

A block away, a smaller Gartrell Street lot sold for $404,000 in April.

Marketing materials point to walkability to MARTA bus lines and King Memorial Station, Georgia State University, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation and Aquatic Center, “tons of great restaurants,” Fetch dog park, and the “Atlanta Trolley.” Access to interstates 75, 85, and 20 is also a breeze, the listing notes.

The streetscape itself is described as “attractive” with “restored [single-family] cottages, modern homes, and townhouses.” An added bonus—and Atlanta rarity—is the relatively flat land.

Less attractive are the parking lots on two sides, but that's hardly surprising in a section of town where auto-centric development has inflicted so much. 

• People-friendly redo of Atlanta's iconic Jackson Street Bridge is happening (Urbanize Atlanta)