Transit-focused, mixed-use development The Fifty-Five officially a go

A block-altering, mixed-use development in East Point’s historic downtown with transit access as a key selling point is days from breaking ground. 

Gorman & Company—a Wisconsin-based developer that specializes in building affordable housing in markets across the U.S.—has scheduled a groundbreaking Friday morning for The Fifty-Five, a mixed-income rental project that initially came to light last summer. 

Gorman counts Atlanta satellite offices and a growing portfolio of ITP projects. 

The developer’s plans call for a four-story, 77,000-square-foot building with 60 apartments replacing a portion of a full residential block at 2855 East Point St., between Dorsey and Thompson streets. 

A section for retail at street level will also be included, according to building plans. 

The location, as developers have stressed, is one block west of the East Point MARTA station. The project will aim to reinforce East Point’s commitment to building transit-oriented affordable housing while bringing downtown an economic jolt, according to Gorman officials. 

“By creating new affordable housing in a multi-modal location, we’re helping ensure East Point residents can remain in the community they call home while continuing to thrive,” said Joel Reed, Gorman’s Southeast market president, in an announcement. 

The unit breakdown in East Point calls for one to three-bedroom rentals reserved for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. The range of rent prices has yet to be specified, as is common at this stage of development for sizable projects. 

Amenities at The Fifty-Five are set to include outdoor gathering space, a fitness center, a computer center, and other community spaces. 

Gorman’s plans call for designing, developing, building, and then managing all aspects of the East Point project.

In recent years, Gorman has been on a building spree around Atlanta, debuting its first project in Westview and another near MARTA’s Hamilton E. Holmes station in 2024. Another Gorman development with an adaptive-reuse component, Sweet Auburn Grande, is fully under construction now, while another proposal near Mall West End is in the pipeline. 

The company is also spearheading the adaptive-reuse transformation of downtown’s long-vacant Atlanta Constitution Building into a concept called The Pitch, where the initial phase is on pace to open prior to 2026 FIFA World Cup matches this summer. 

Elsewhere in downtown Atlanta, Gorman plans to break ground soon on a 15-story affordable housing tower as part of The Sanctuary, a $41-million remake of Trinity United Methodist Church’s historic campus. 

That project will include 83 mixed-income units and shared residential spaces that keep the century-old sanctuary intact, per Gorman. 

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