Motel conversion to affordable housing moving 'full bore' ahead

A motel conversion that project leaders say will provide a needed injection of eastside affordable housing while continuing a residential rebirth along Moreland Avenue is fully under construction, according to developers.

Stryant Construction is converting the Atlanta Motel at 277 Moreland Avenue, a 1960s low-rise property, into 54 affordable housing apartments with some of the lowest rent caps for tenants—30 percent of the area median income—for new construction in recent memory. It’s located where Moreland Avenue meets Interstate 20.

Stan Sugarman, Stryant managing partner, tells Urbanize Atlanta the project is moving “full bore” ahead with demolition finished and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems now being installed in the former motel.

An official groundbreaking and press conference led by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to Sugarman.

As designed by Terminus Design Group, the project will be called Ralph David House. It’s unique in that it calls for remaking the budget motel into fully affordable housing in one of intown Atlanta’s hottest BeltLine neighborhoods.

Each of the 54 apartments will be reserved people who’ve been unhoused and are making less than 30 percent AMI. Rents and utility costs combined will be capped at 30 percent of each renter’s income, Stryant officials have said.

Another Reynoldstown affordable housing initiative from Stryant farther north on Moreland Avenue has faced more neighborhood pushback but scored financial backing from Atlanta Housing earlier this year.  

Stryant is partnering on the motel conversion with Atlanta Housing, Invest Atlanta, Partners for Home, and Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund. City and BeltLine officials, Reynoldstown neighborhood leadership, and three different Neighborhood Planning Units voiced support for the project in pre-development phases. 

The Invest Atlanta Board agreed last year to provide $556,000 to the motel conversion project as part of a series of grants from the BeltLine and Eastside Tax Allocation Districts, or TADs.

Sugarman says the goal is to start moving in tenants to Ralph David House in fall 2024.

Plans also call for installing a social worker’s office onsite and configuring at least six of the units to be ADA compliant, with the rest designed to meet Fair Housing Guidelines, according to Terminus Design Group, the project’s architect of record.  

Interiors will be renovated to the bones and outfitted with modern, multifamily finishes consistent with market-rate deals in the area, per the architecture firm.

The exterior of the motel building will receive a facelift—fresh paint, windows, doors, amenity areas, and more—with a goal of improving its visibility from both Moreland Avenue and I-20.

Prior to Stryant’s involvement, city records indicate the .75-acre property last sold in 1997 for $1.06 million. As a motel, the property’s rooms were said to go for $50 per night, and most reviews were unflattering, to say the least.

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Reynoldstown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)