A deal is moving forward to revive a long-vacant apartment complex and create attainable new residences in what developers call a “rapidly gentrifying” section of Atlanta’s Westside.

Backed by funding from Invest Atlanta, Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund, and Westside Future Fund, the joint venture by ARRC Capital Partners and Fifteen70 Development expects to begin construction soon at 385 Joseph E Lowery Boulevard.

Currently configured as 12 units, the brick-built apartments stand adjacent to Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park in English Avenue, about a mile west of the Georgia World Congress Center.

The apartments, which have been vacant for more than 20 years, will be expanded with additional stories to 32 units total. The new layout will cater to a mix of renters from students to families, according to Richard Taylor, ARRC Capital Partners managing partner.

The vacant 385 Joseph E Lowery Boulevard property today. Courtesy of ARRC Capital Partners, Fifteen70 Development

Proposed look of the expanded, renovated apartment property. Courtesy of ARRC Capital Partners, Fifteen70 Development

Plans call for 18 studio units to start at just 275 square feet, with the largest two options being 566-square-foot, two-bedroom apartments.

The project will be unique, per the development team, in that it will be majority-affordable, with rents capped at 30, 60, and 80 percent of the area median income, along with some market-rate units.

About one in five of the apartments will see rents starting at just over $530 per month, per developers.

A breakdown of unit sizes and projected rents ranging from market-rate to the most affordable. Courtesy of ARRC Capital Partners, Fifteen70 Development

Courtesy of ARRC Capital Partners, Fifteen70 Development

Taylor described the project as a “catalyst for health equity” that will deliver “deeply affordable housing” within an easy walk of greenspaces. Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Vine City is also located a few blocks east.

To finance this extreme makeover, the development team has received an acquisition loan from Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund (Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta), a Westside Future Fund construction loan, and an Invest Atlanta grant through its Westside TAD Resurgens Fund.

Taylor says community-building will be an important part of the development strategy, and that his group has already founded a parent-teacher association at the local elementary school, Hollis Innovation Academy.

The Joseph E Lowery Boulevard venture will mark the second in the area for ARRC Capital Partners.

The group’s first, 12Hundred Studios (also previously vacant), won the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Excellence Award, and the Community Impact Award from CoStar, for its innovative approach to financing and community engagement.

Find a closer look at English Avenue plans in the gallery above. 

The project's 385 Joseph E Lowery Boulevard location, near two new Westside parks. Google Maps

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