About two miles due south of downtown Atlanta, the area around Hank Aaron Drive’s intersection with the BeltLine corridor has emerged as an epicenter of southside development and investment.

Immediately west of there, plans for an adaptive-reuse food hall and office project in Peoplestown came to light earlier this month. Meanwhile, next door to the east, more than 900 apartments and townhomes have sprung to life in three separate developments along the BeltLine corridor over the past year.  

Now, the tallest project of the lot is beginning to make its mark on the area.

Vertical construction has begun on a Peoplestown venture, led by New York-based developer Exact Capital Group and Aleem Construction, called Skyline Apartments.

Where Skyline Apartments has begun vertical construction in the 1000 block of Hank Aaron Drive, directly south of downtown Atlanta, as seen earlier this month.

The 11-story development has claimed a vacant lot at 1090 Hank Aaron Drive, just east of the downtown Connector. It’s expected to offer exclusively affordable housing, thanks to financial help from both city and state coffers.

Situated directly on the Southside Trail, the Skyline Apartments’ 250 rentals will be reserved for tenants earning 60 percent or less of the area's median income for at least 15 years, according to Atlanta BeltLine Inc. officials.

Plans call for 46 studios, 101 one-bedroom rentals, and 103 two-bedrooms.

A pinpoint of the 1090 Hank Aaron Drive SE site, with the Southside Trail corridor spanning across the frame just to the south, running under a bridge with active rail. Google Maps

Amenities at the Skyline complex are expected to include a fitness center, outdoor pavilion, centralized laundry facilities, and access to enhanced public transportation. (That being said, MARTA’s Summerhill bus-rapid transit route, linking downtown with the BeltLine via Hank Aaron Drive, has delayed its expected opening by a year to summer 2025, plagued with ballooning costs and other issues.) 

The BeltLine Southside Trail segment in question—currently open for public use in an unpaved, interim state between the Connector and Boulevard—is scheduled to be bid out for construction in September next year. A $16.5-million RAISE grant from U.S. Department of Transportation awarded in November last year will help fund the building of that segment and others.

How the 250-unit Skyline project will front Hank Aaron Drive in Peoplestown. Rendering courtesy of Exact Capital

Across the street from the construction site, around the circular drive, an adaptive-reuse food hall and offices complex called Terminal South is in planning stages.

The Skyline Apartments started construction at the end of last winter. BeltLine officials have said the project is scheduled to deliver sometime in 2023.

The BeltLine contributed $2 million toward the Skyline project—sourced from the Atlanta BeltLine Affordable Housing Trust Fund, or BAHTF—in a transaction that closed in February. At the time, that put the organization at 53 percent of its goal to help build 5,600 affordable housing units near the trail, as outlined in founding legislation from 2005.  

Beyond the BeltLine’s contribution, Exact Capital received a tax-exempt bond from Invest Atlanta’s Urban Residential Finance Authority and low-income housing tax credits from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, among other funding.

Much more residential development is underway along the unpaved Southside Trail corridor to the east, toward Grant Park, including a massive community of for-sale condos.

To the west in Capitol View, a 325-unit apartment project called The Vivian is taking shape along the Southside Trail’s first completed mile now.

• Adaptive-reuse food hall bound for Atlanta's southside (Urbanize Atlanta)