More than 100 units of rental housing that meets affordability standards will officially begin construction this afternoon along two of Atlanta’s more rapidly developing transportation corridors: the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail and Memorial Drive.

A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. for a project now called Madison at Reynoldstown—that rare development near the BeltLine corridor where a majority of the housing won’t be rented at market rate.

The $43.6-million venture is a team effort by Atlanta Housing, the City of Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, and Atlanta BeltLine Inc. that’s been in the works for several years. It cleared a final hurdle in December when Atlanta Housing announced it had closed on all financing required to build the 116 apartments. The location is currently a parking lot next to a loft condo building, across the Eastside Trail from Muchacho restaurant. Rea Ventures Group has signed on as developer.

All Madison at Reynoldstown homes 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.

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

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, project leaders said this week.  

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.

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.

The location, as BeltLine officials stress, will allow families quick access to a grocery store, entertainment, greenspaces, restaurants, and job hubs such as nearby Madison Yards.

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

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.

The Praxis3-designed apartment complex will claim 1.2 acres at the northeast corner of Memorial Drive and Chester Avenue in Reynoldstown, a red-hot real estate market for a decade. The architecture firm has described the project as a statement by the city “regarding… ongoing gentrification and increasing lack of affordable and workplace housing."

How a shorter section of the project will front Chester Avenue, at left, and Memorial Drive. Praxis3

• Before/after: Memorial Drive's unreal transformation in recent years (Urbanize Atlanta)