Along the Atlanta Beltline’s Westside Trail, a multi-block building boom is growing with enough scope and variety to bring to mind the Eastside Trail’s development surge of years past.  

Nearly seven years after redevelopment concepts first came to light, the mixed-use conversion of a well-known warehouse complex in Southwest Atlanta recently kicked off construction, officials confirm to Urbanize Atlanta. 

Underway now is Atlanta-based developers Urban Realty Partners’ initial phase of Oakland Exchange, a planned transformation of the former Cut Rate Box warehouse complex that dates to the early 1990s at 1088 Murphy Ave. 

The property is located immediately west of the Beltline’s Murphy Crossing redevelopment site, about a block from the Westside Trail. It had previously been used as box warehouses since the early 1970s. 

Urban Realty’s former office-heavy redevelopment plans (originally dubbed “The Murphy”) came to light in spring 2019.

Context of Oakland Exchange's Beltline proximity and other investments in the general area, as shown in 2024.Oakland Exchange/Urban Realty Partners

Sean Donahue, development partner at Urban Realty, says the scope of current phase-one construction calls for 126 apartments—ranging from studios to two-bedroom options—along with 16,000 square feet of creative commercial space in the former Cut Rate Box buildings. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2026. 

Asked for details on rent ranges and affordable housing, Donahue replied this week via email: “We’ll release more details soon. For now, we can say there’s a significant affordable component.” 

Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, approved $3 million in Beltline Tax Allocation District increment financing to help start phase-one construction last year. At the time, agency officials said 32 of the project’s initial 126 units would be designated as affordable, reserved for residents earning between 60 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. 

Oakland Exchange's existing warehouse buildings and water tower, as seen along Murphy Avenue, looking toward downtown in early 2023. Google Maps

Overview of Oakland Exchange's two early 1900s warehouse buildings remade with active uses. Oakland Exchange/Urban Realty Partners

The phase-one component is expected to cost $53 million overall, per Invest Atlanta, with amenities that call for a picnic area, central laundry, fitness room, and other features. Overall, Oakland Exchange is envisioned as a new gateway to the Beltline. 

The majority of phase-one Oakland Exchange units (94 total) would rent at market-rate, ranging from $1,410 monthly for studios to $2,283 for two-bedrooms, per Invest Atlanta’s 2025 tabulations.  

In 2024, Urban Realty partnered with Kronberg Urbanists + Architects and Praxis3 to design what’s described as a “multifaceted destination for residents, office and retail users, and community members” that will eventually span 5 acres, including vacant land adjacent to warehouses. Stream Realty Partners was also hired to lease the project.

The brick buildings in question stand three and four stories along a MARTA line, where an infill station is vaguely planned to possibly take shape in coming years as a transit connection to the Beltline. 

Eventually, plans call for more than 200 residential lofts, plus 60,000 square feet of offices and 8,000 square feet of retail at Oakland Exchange.

How original, heavy-timber features at the warehouse buildings appear today. Renovation plans call for retaining them. Oakland Exchange/Urban Realty Partners

The Oakland City project joins an influx of active construction and proposals that could bring thousands of new homes and a surge of commercial activity to surrounding blocks in Beltline-adjacent neighborhoods. 

Also in Oakland City, vertical construction is well underway on the 326-home 840 Woodrow development, which is claiming about 7 total acres of former industrial land. Another aspect of that project will see subsidized commercial spaces for local entrepreneurs, per officials. 

Down the street in Capitol View, plans that call for a 25-acre, potentially billion-dollar new district with more than 4,000 housing units overall came to light last year. An Empire Communities townhome component of that project is under development now. 

Meanwhile, Arizona-based Culdesac is building two pocket neighborhoods of for-sale townhomes in the area with prices starting in the high $100,000s. 

Planning efforts also continue at the area’s best-known redevelopment site—one that overlooks the mainline Beltline loop trail—following high-profile disagreements between owners and developers. Atlanta Beltline Inc. parted ways last year with selected developers Culdesac and Urban Oasis Development for the vacant, 20-acre Murphy Crossing property. Beltline leadership has taken the reins on planning and development and expects to break ground on the initial phase at Murphy Crossing sometime in 2026, officials have said. 

Find more Oakland Exchange imagery and context in the gallery above. 

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