Developer: Retail still in play for two-pronged project near Beltline

Developers of a large residential project near one of the Atlanta Beltline’s newest trails have advice for neighbors concerned with lack of onsite retail: be patient. 

An anonymous complaint filed in June with Atlanta’s Department of City Planning indicates The Garrison project in Boulevard Heights is using a 750-square-foot corner space as a lobby, instead of the coffee shop or similar retail use required by zoning. 

That concern has been echoed online, with one person describing the complainant as a “local hero.” According to city planning officials, the complaint is “in research” now. 

A spokesperson for Highpoint Development (formerly TPA Group) tells Urbanize Atlanta this week a space at the base of the project’s multifamily building has been provisioned for retail space, such as a coffee shop, but no operator has been signed. 

“We would like a coffee shop, but we need to have our project full and the construction completed to generate enough foot traffic for it to be viable,” said the development official, who requested anonymity. “We don’t want someone to fail because they came in too early… Our hope is by next spring we would be able to receive some interest from an operator.”

The Garrison has risen from a formerly polluted 8.2-acre site—dubbed by locals “trash mountain” and “Mount Rubbish” during remediation efforts—off United Avenue. It’s less than two blocks from the Grant Park neighborhood and the Beltline’s Southeast Trail section, which opened in April.

The site includes 228 apartments, where move-ins began in May, and 63 rental townhomes that remain under construction. The scope included reconnecting the street grid between Avondale and Lester avenues. 

The project has also connected a Beltline spur trail—situated alongside The Swift townhomes immediately to the south—over to United Avenue and the Beltline beyond. The construction site previously cut that access off, per the Highpoint spokesperson. 

Current rent prices at The Garrison start at $1,545 monthly for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit in 592 square feet. 

The priciest offerings start at $3,690 monthly, which rents a three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhome with 1,621 square feet across three stories, with a two-car garage. Eight weeks of free rent is being offered as an incentive with some homes. 

Fifteen percent of the apartments and townhomes, or 43 units total, will be reserved as affordable housing at 80 percent of the Area Median Income or less, as required by Beltline inclusionary housing rules, according to earlier filings.

The Garrison’s name is a nod to a Georgia National Guard outpost near the site. 

Find more context and images in the gallery above; see our recent aerial tour over the property and surround blocks over here. 

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