Images: 3,000-home project scores city approval blocks from Beltline

The Atlanta City Council has approved rezoning for an urban infill project that could eventually produce more than 3,000 residential units, marking what developers call a historic win for housing in Southwest Atlanta. 

According to officials with Renewal Development Group, an LLC based overseas, the scope the "Sylvan Road Redevelopment" now calls for developing nearly 14 acres of underused land about two blocks from the Beltline’s Southwest Trail in Capitol View, near the Murphy Crossing property. 

Nearby blocks in the formerly industrial district are seeing a groundswell of new construction, most of it residential, as the Beltline becomes more fully connected to other parts of Atlanta. 

Plans recently approved by the city call for more than 3,030 residential units, including roughly 574 affordable housing units, plus retail storefronts, commercial space, communal gathering areas, and public greenspace, according to a Tuesday announcement from Renewal Development Group. 

“This approval represents a defining milestone in touching people's lives in Southwest Atlanta,” Jack Afik, Renewal Development Group’s CEO, said in the announcement. “We’re honored by the confidence placed in this vision by [city officials], community leaders, and neighborhood stakeholders and look forward to giving back to the community.” 

Lisa Benjamin, a partner with Lexicon Strategies, which has helped move the project through the city’s entitlement and rezoning process, tells Urbanize Atlanta the next phase will focus on implementation, now that the “significant milestone” of rezoning is in the rearview. That will include detailed site planning, engineering, infrastructure design, architectural design, permitting, and financing, per Benjamin. No ETA on groundbreaking is available.

“The timing of construction and delivery will depend on completing these activities, evaluating site and infrastructure requirements, and securing financing for the various project components,” Benjamin wrote via email. “As the project advances through these stages and timelines become more defined, we’ll provide additional updates on anticipated construction and delivery schedules.”

Renewal Development Group has taken over ownership and control of the property in question from Atlanta-based Abebe Ventures, which originated the Sylvan Road concept last year. 

According to a company description, Afik is one of the leading real estate developers in the Mediterranean island country of Cyprus, where he’s developed more than 9,000 residential units and mixed-use ventures. 

Beyond the Sylvan Road property, Renewal Development Group controls roughly 45 acres of land in Atlanta, much of that near the Beltline corridor, according to the company.

Abebe Ventures and its partners at the local offices of Perkins&Will architects previously told Urbanize Atlanta the Sylvan Road project could cost a billion dollars, across several phases. (The first component to rise is a 124-townhome Empire Communities project situated on 4 acres near the center of the Sylvan Road assemblage, replacing a former auto salvage yard.) 

Since the development concept was revealed on these pages in early 2025, bright spots for the development team have included formal approvals and community support from the area’s Neighborhood Planning Unit X and several neighborhood associations, including Capitol View, Capitol View Manor, Sylvan Hills, Hammond Park, and Perkerson.

The Beltline Overlay acreage in Capitol View was under a light industrial conditional classification (I-1-C/BL) and needed to be rezoned to mixed residential commercial (MRC-3) to pull off the multifaceted district. Rezoning requests were previously denied at two stages: hearings with the city’s Zoning Review Board and another involving a Comprehensive Development Plan amendment for the properties, as project officials told Urbanize in February.  

According to a staff report, ZRB officials had found that rezoning would have “a negative effect on the character of the neighborhood by eroding the existing stock of industrially designated property in the area, which is already significantly limited.” Board members also determined that a mixed-use project that managed to weave in light industrial uses or “small-scale specialty manufacturing” would be more appropriate for the Capitol View site. 

The property appears to have been designated for industrial uses since 1949 and had long provided jobs to nearby neighborhoods, per ZRB officials’ findings. 

A proposed Beltline spur trail, dubbed the “Oakland + Murphy Connector Trail,” that came to light in 2024 will be built alongside the Sylvan Road project for several blocks, with access to the Oakland City MARTA station at one end. Beltline officials said in March that 1.3-mile project is on pace to break ground late this year or early next.

Benjamin said all renderings published to date should be viewed merely as concepts meant to communicate the project’s overall vision and character.

“As the project moves into implementation, the design will continue to evolve through the architectural, engineering, and site-planning process,” Benjamin wrote. “Future work will further refine the residential, retail, commercial, public greenspace, transportation, and infrastructure components of the development while ensuring compliance with City of Atlanta requirements and development standards.”

In the gallery above, find more context and a closer look at (tentative) concepts for the project. 

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