After more than a decade of big ideas, sputtered plans, and dashed timelines, a new day for the long-dormant Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center property could—and let’s skeptically emphasize could—begin within months, according to project officials. 

Speaking this week at the inaugural State of Atlanta Housing: Open House, agency president and CEO Terri M. Lee said the Civic Center is among six projects Atlanta Housing expects to close financing for within the next quarter of 2025. Collectively those developments will create more than 600 affordable housing units, representing a $180-million investment by the agency. 

At last check, fencing around the Civic Center site had been wrapped in rendering-heavy banners with “The Excitement is Building” messaging, but no substantial demo work had begun. That’s despite paperwork filed with the city and other indications in 2024 that construction would commence by year’s end.  

Per Lee’s remarks this week, plans still call for transforming the Civic Center—which shuttered way back in 2014—into a mix of senior housing, apartments, and communal spaces, alongside hotel, office, and retail uses. 

The general breakdown of expected Civic Center uses, as seen looking southwest, into downtown Atlanta. Atlanta Housing

Paperwork filed with the city indicates the $40-million first building will be a mix of 148 affordable multifamily units and 1,642 square feet of retail space. A parking deck and surface parking are also included.

Atlanta Housing, which is spearheading Civic Center redevelopment efforts, has said the first apartments will be one-bedroom senior housing units, rising on the northeast section of the Civic Center property, across the street from Renaissance Park. 

The rentals will each be roughly 600 square feet, and building amenities are set to include a roof deck, a plaza, and a café at street level, agency leaders have said.

Phase one plans call for constructing this mix of senior housing and retail north of the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. Michaels Organization, Sophy Capital, Republic Family of Companies, via ADID

Lee, who marked one year of being at Atlanta Housing’s helm in February, lent numerous other updates on projects across Atlanta during the dignitary-studded event Tuesday at The Gathering Spot. 

The agency currently has 21 projects either under construction or in lease-up phases, which Lee called one of the country’s most ambitious affordable housing pipelines. 

Last year, Atlanta Housing closed 12 real estate developments (more than the past three years combined) and delivered 3,200 affordable housing units, the majority of them built from scratch, while others were renovated and preserved, per Lee.

Much more is on the horizon. 

By the end of this year, according to Lee, Atlanta Housing expects to break ground on the second phase of the Englewood South project in Chosewood Park, as one example. 

That will create 200 multifamily units—half of those with Atlanta Housing rental assistance—alongside about 22,000 square feet of retail space on what’s currently vacant land. 

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Old Fourth Ward news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)