Another BeltLine-adjacent surface parking lot has been cast off to antiquated-planning purgatory as a rare development where a majority of housing won’t be rented at market-rate begins to rise.

As a site visit this week proved, the Madison at Reynoldstown project has bottomed out, installed bracing, and begun vertical construction on 116 units of rental housing that's planned to meet affordability standards along two of Atlanta’s more rapidly developing transportation corridors: the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail and Memorial Drive.

In the works for several years, the $43.6-million project is a joint effort by Atlanta Housing, the City of Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, and Atlanta BeltLine Inc. It broke ground in March and has since made a construction zone of the block’s full southern end, save the longstanding Lofts at Reynoldstown Crossing building, a former warehouse.

It’s claiming 1.2 acres at the northeast corner of Memorial Drive and Chester Avenue in Reynoldstown, one of intown’s more red-hot real estate markets for a decade.

A site plan illustrating how Madison at Reynoldstown will fit with existing condos, the Lofts at Reynoldstown Crossing, along the Eastside Trail. Praxis3 for Rea Ventures Group

The location, as BeltLine leaders have stressed, will allow families quick access to groceries (Publix and KroBar), entertainment, greenspaces, restaurants, and job hubs such as nearby Madison Yards and Krog Street Market. 

All Madison at Reynoldstown homes, as developed by Rea Ventures Group, will be reserved as affordable housing for families earning 80 percent of the area median income or less—an agreement locked into the property for 30 years, officials previously told Urbanize Atlanta.

The beginnings of vertical construction in October 2022 at the Madison at Reynoldstown project, as seen looking east from Chester Avenue. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Exact rents haven’t been specified, but the breakdown of units has: 71 one-bedrooms, 36 two-bedrooms, and nine apartments with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

An Atlanta Housing program called HomeFlex will also provide subsidies for residents of 46 units; those will be dedicated to working families earning up to 30 percent of median incomes for the area, according to project leaders.

The site's proximity to the Eastside Trail, at right. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Plans call for one parking space per unit and roughly 2,700 square feet of commercial or retail space, including a section fronting the Eastside Trail and another on Memorial Drive.

Public and private funding sources included a $21.5-million, tax-exempt bond from Invest Atlanta, a $2-million grant from the BeltLine Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and a $4.4-million National Housing Trust Fund award from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, among others. Atlanta Housing is investing $8.9 million in addition to its HomeFlex subsidies.

Where Madison at Reynoldstown's planned frontage on the Eastside Trail has replaced a parking lot. Praxis3

The project’s architect, Praxis3, has described it as a statement by the city “regarding… ongoing gentrification and increasing lack of affordable and workplace housing."

BeltLine officials say the project will take about 18 months to complete, meaning it should open sometime around September 2023. Applications for renting will be accepted closer to the project’s debut.

• Before/after: Atlanta BeltLine's famous Eastside Trail turns 10 (Urbanize Atlanta)