Beltline leadership: Big year on tap for affordable housing near trails

Atlanta Beltline Inc. is taking stock this week of what leadership calls a monumental year for affordable housing delivery in the city, with several more trail-adjacent projects expected to take key steps forward in 2025.

According to a tally released today, the Beltline in 2024 delivered 569 affordable housing units around Atlanta—or almost 90 percent more than its annual goal of 300 affordable homes.

Examples included the 56-unit Stanton Park Apartments that opened last winter in Peoplestown (with rents starting at $542 monthly), backed by $2 million from the Atlanta Beltline Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The Stanton Park facade at 1056 Hank Aaron Drive in Peoplestown. Stanton Park Apartments; Woda Cooper Companies/Parallel Housing Inc.

With 2024 in the books, Beltline leaders say they’ve reached 74 percent of their target to create or preserve 5,600 affordable housing units near trails by 2030, when the 22-mile, multi-purpose loop is scheduled to be finished. (Today, roughly 85 percent of the main Beltline is either finished or actively under construction, project officials have reported.)

The Beltline—which has now banked 87 acres of land for redevelopment, from southern Buckhead to the Westside, Pittsburgh, and beyond—expects to again exceed its housing goals for 2025.

The pace also suggests housing targets for 2030 will be surpassed, officials relayed this week.

“We’re hitting our stride in making equitable development a reality,” Clyde Higgs, Beltline president and CEO, noted in an announcement.

As for the 2025 outlook, Beltline leadership issued these updates, including the latest on a scheduled groundbreaking:

Trees Atlanta's new headquarters (bottom left), the Murphy Crossing property, and the Beltline's Westside Trail. LoKnows Drones; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

• Murphy Crossing: Despite a recent setback that came when Beltline leadership parted ways and canceled a contract with Arizona developer Culdesac and its Atlanta-based partner Urban Oasis Development, Beltline leadership struck an optimistic tone this week for a 20-acre redevelopment that could see hundreds of housing units priced below market-rate.
The Murphy Crossing site in 2025 will be rezoned to I-Mix, a designation that allows for dense economic development—combining commercial, residential, and even jobs-producing industrial uses on a single property—in underserved neighborhoods around the city. Public meetings regarding Murphy Crossing’s remake are expected to begin next month.

Pittsburgh Yards and buildable acreage along a finished section of the Southside Trail. LoKnows Drones; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

• Pittsburgh Yards’ neighbor: The 14-acre blank slate that is 346 University Ave. is also expected to undergo I-Mix rezoning in 2025, setting the stage for potential mixed-use growth.
The Beltline paid $13.3 million for the Pittsburgh property in the summer of 2023, and community engagement and master-planning work continues. “The Beltline is currently in the planning phase and incorporating community feedback to shape the future of the site,” notes this week’s update.

Potential look of commercial frontage along the Beltline near Garson Drive.via Invest Atlanta/ABI

• Northwest Trail land: At the 579 Garson Drive site in southern Buckhead near Lindbergh, 130 units of affordable housing and roughly 10,000 square feet of below-market commercial space is in the works, as Northwest Trail construction progresses nearby.
Beltline officials report the Atlanta City Council has approved rezoning for mixed-use development to move forward. The project remains in design phases but is expected to break ground in the fourth quarter of this year, per Beltline officials.

Chappell Road acreage west of Midtown today. TSW; courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

• Big Westside potential: The largest chunk of land in the Beltline’s portfolio—a 425 Chappell Road site spanning more than 31 acres—has been submitted to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for review as a Development of Regional Impact, a designation for projects big enough to effect multiple jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the site has received rezoning approval from the Atlanta City Council for redevelopment.
According to Beltline leadership, predevelopment work for the first five blocks of development has started; that facet of the site calls for about 150 units of for-sale housing and roughly 5,000 square feet of affordable commercial spaces. The site is situated just south of Westside Park (now renamed for former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin) and MARTA’s Bankhead station.