One of the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail’s last remaining slots for large-scale new development is actively being filled.

That’s the word from developer Columbia Ventures, which recently broke ground on the next phase of Studioplex redevelopment where the popular BeltLine segment meets Edgewood Avenue in Old Fourth Ward.

The mixed-use project will continue a row of retail facing the BeltLine that includes Shake Shack, Cold Beer restaurant, Hawkers, Pour Taproom, and Nina and Rafi pizza, among other establishments.

Atop the retail at 678 Edgewood Avenue will be 114 apartments, with sizes ranging from 400 to about 1,200 square feet, as Dillon Baynes, Columbia Ventures’ managing partner, tells Urbanize Atlanta.

The building's retail and 114 apartments just west of the BeltLine's Eastside Trail. Columbia Ventures; designs, Studio Architects

“Likely five to seven new tenants will be there,” in 12,000 square feet of space with patios, Baynes said via email today. “We’re targeting up to two traditional or entertainment-driven food and beverage operators" for the spaces, with the rest being boutique retail, he added.  

Above the eats and shops, 15 percent of the 114 rentals will be reserved as affordable housing, per BeltLine inclusionary housing rules.

Baynes said those units will likely be reserved for households earning 80 percent of the area median income or less.

View of the mixed-use project, looking north, from the Edgewood Avenue bridge. Columbia Ventures; designs, Studio Architects

Baynes believes the $37-million project, as designed by Atlanta's Studio Architects, is well-positioned to compete with nearby “mega-projects” in “glass towers” because it’s more intimate and personalized. Leasing conversations with “a number of great local merchants” have begun, he said.

The 678 Edgewood venture is expected to open in spring 2023 at the transformed Studioplex, a former cotton compress warehouse campus that Baynes and company consider Atlanta’s premier location. Columbia Ventures previously developed retail hub SPX Alley next door, with townhomes above built by Thrive Homes.

The undeveloped site in question, at left, as seen in March 2020. Google Maps

The groundbreaking continues an explosion of investment along the Old Fourth Ward’s BeltLine frontage.

Other projects under construction or gearing up to start in coming months include New City’s mixed-use mini-city near Ponce City Market, Portman Holdings’ six-story office concept at Irwin Street, and Capital City Real Estate’s 12-story condo project called “The Indie.”

• Recent Old Fourth Ward news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)