Years-long stabilization efforts and investments on Atlanta’s Westside are set to continue in a significant way this month, with two project groundbreakings planned for the same day.  

Community nonprofit Westside Future Fund has announced ceremonial groundbreakings the morning of Nov. 17 for two residential ventures in English Avenue—The 404 @ Oliver and Proctor + Paines—that represent a collective $100-million bet and development “milestone” for the area, per officials. 

Combined, the projects call for building 79 affordable apartments and 11 single-family homes due west of Midtown and downtown, within a block of each other. Both sites are steps from Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park, a multifaceted English Avenue greenspace opened in 2019. 

Another Westside amenity—Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Vine City—is situated about five blocks to the east, toward downtown.  

Alongside WFF officials, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and city councilmember Byron Amos are scheduled to lead the Tuesday ceremonies. 

WFF officials announced this week all 79 planned apartments will be reserved for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income, with 40 units set aside for households at or below 60 percent AMI. 

The 11 planned single-family homes will be for sale, with a goal of increasing Westside homeownership, per officials. Prices have yet to be specified. 

For village-style The 404 @ Oliver, plans call for 54 apartments and six single-family houses rising from a cleared site immediate north of Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park. Officials have said the project will take about 18 months to build. 

Plans for a range of housing styles at The 404 @ Oliver Street block. Courtesy of Kronberg Urbanists + Architects

Courtesy of Kronberg Urbanists + Architects

According to Eric Kronberg, founder of project designer Kronberg Urbanists + Architects, plans call for the six for-sale homes to face south, overlooking the park. The 404 @ Oliver Street footprint will consume about two-thirds of the block in question, as Kronberg told Urbanize Atlanta in September. 

Meanwhile, the remaining apartments and homes at the Proctor + Paines project will claim the site of the former, shuttered New Jerusalem Baptist Church and an adjacent empty lot at 383 Paines Ave. NW. 

The former New Jerusalem Baptist Church in early 2023, before it was closed and boarded up. Google Maps

Proximity of the Proctor + Paines site to Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park and Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.Google Maps

Plans call for revitalizing the church structure and building a communal pavilion, covered parking, and terraced pedestrian access that links Proctor Street and Paines Avenue, according to Invest Atlanta. 

A few blocks away, two other income-restricted WFF developments—646 Echo St. and 839 Boone Boulevard—opened in English Avenue early this year. 

Meanwhile, another WFF project in next-door Vine City—an 18-unit infill project across the street from John F. Kennedy Park and the Hollis Innovation Academy—broke ground in August. 

Find more context and visuals for both English Avenue project in the gallery above. 

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