Where a formerly dilapidated shopping center had stood, a Vine City mixed-use project is striving to be a stabilizing force in a community beset by legacies of disinvestment and the onset of gentrification.

Located about seven blocks west of Vine City’s new centerpiece park, the Quest Westside Impact Center opened last year as part of a multifaceted, $30-million investment by nonprofit Quest Communities, a development group that aims to provide affordable housing and needs-based community services west of downtown Atlanta.

Quest’s 30,000-square-foot Impact Center houses offices, a community center, educational services, and retail along Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard, near the intersection of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard. The Cooper Carry-designed project’s overarching goal is to be a “a central hub of transformation” at the junction of Bankhead, English Avenue, Washington Park, and Vine City, according to the Atlanta-based architecture firm.  

The QWIC building today, alongside previously built components of Quest's Vine City complex. Photography by Brian Gassell; courtesy of QWICC/Cooper Carry

Quest’s first phase produced affordable housing units for veterans, and the second saw the construction of the Westside Works workforce training facility, which helps connect neighbors to job opportunities.

As the third and final main phase, the new center reserved 10,000 square feet for Quest Financial Services and other independent companies, while replacing the site’s Family Dollar store with a new one at the building’s base level. Other components include a WiFi-enabled communal workspace for visitors.

Financial help for the Quest development came by way of Invest Atlanta, the Westside Future Fund, SunTrust Banks (now Truist), and the Arthur Blank Foundation. The latest facet racked up awards before it was built, winning the 2019 NOMAtlanta NSPIRE Award, Un-Built Category and the 2019 NOMAtlanta NSPIRE Village Voice Award.

Photography by Brian Gassell; courtesy of QWICC/Cooper Carry

Have a look at the 30,000-square-foot building designed to meet the needs of Westside communities in the gallery photos above, as recently provided to Urbanize Atlanta by the project’s architects.

• This Vine City property is asking $300K. Home not included (Urbanize Atlanta)