When it comes to Boulevard Heights’ infamous mound of trash, public opinion could soon shift from “pee-yew” to “phew,” according to developers.

After nearly two years of work at the site, southeast Atlanta neighbors have reached out recently who’ve grown concerned that “trash mountain”—aka “Mount Rubbish”—shows few signs of going away, as construction crews continue to sort, pile, and remove garbage at the former landfill, and dump trucks keep roaring along city streets.

According to developer TPA Residential, brighter (and less trashy) days are on the horizon.

The Atlanta-based firm is 90 percent finished with landfill remediation at the site where United and Lester avenues meet—an undertaking described as significant and unique that has taken longer than initially expected, per project leaders.

The tremendous mound of excavated landfill trash where United Avenue meets Lester Avenue, as seen last year. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

TPA’s plans call for mobilizing construction crews in August and beginning the development phase of the 1104 Avondale Ave. project, which is located less than two blocks from the BeltLine’s under-construction Southside Trail sections and Grant Park.

“We, and I’m sure the neighborhood, are looking forward to commencing the vertical development of the project in the very near future,” a project rep wrote to Urbanize Atlanta via email.

TPA Residential filed for permits last summer to pave the way for vertical development.

According to that paperwork filed with the city in August, TPA plans to start development with a single 212,000-square-foot building with 228 housing units—an uptick from 215 apartments outlined in previous plans. Beyond that mid-rise building, TPA expects to build 63 rental townhomes spread around 10 structures situated closer to United Avenue, according to site plans. As required by zoning, a small retail space will be included in one corner of the multifamily building.

A rendering for the 1104 Avondale Ave. project's multifamily portion submitted to the city last summer. TPA Residential

We’ve asked for an updated timeline on project delivery and more renderings and will update this story should that come. Initial renderings indicate the multifamily building could be called United Apartments. 

The 8.2-acre site in question was once home to a city-operated drinking water chlorination facility but had been a massive, abandoned landfill capped with fill-dirt for years. Sources have said roughly 150,000 yards of garbage had to be removed before the site could be ready for construction. Two previous development efforts by other companies at the site sputtered and ultimately pulled out.

The Development Authority of Fulton County approved a $3.7-million tax abatement for TPA to help with cleaning up the site in 2022. The development has also been approved for the Brownfield Tax Credit Program for “the voluntary cleanup and redevelopment of an environmentally contaminated site,” per TPA’s project website. Remediation and removal of the landfill will reportedly cost $7 million, and TPA plans to spend another $1 million building a BeltLine connection with lighting and landscaping.

Fifteen percent of the apartments and townhomes will be reserved as affordable housing, as required by BeltLine inclusionary housing rules, per TPA’s plans. As of 2022, the first units were expected to deliver in spring or summer 2024, but that’s clearly changed.

TPA’s plans for the apartments (ranging from studios up to three-bedroom options) call for 43 units to be reserved for tenants earning 80 percent of the area median income or less, according to earlier filings.

The site of TPA Residential's mix of rental townhomes and apartments along United Avenue, with the BeltLine's Southside Trail corridor depicted at left, prior to construction. Google Maps

The Avondale Avenue project joins a flurry of recent development in that pocket of the BeltLine corridor, where construction on the next 1.2-mile stretch of the Southside Trail began in June last year. Empire Communities’ the Swift, a large townhome project with 120 units, claimed another vacant parcel next door several years ago.

Down the street, TPA also built a 275-unit project called The Penman on 6 acres that directly front the BeltLine, near the Southside Trail’s intersection with Boulevard. About 7,000 square feet of adaptive-reuse retail space was included in that project, too.  

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• Is BeltLine-connected Boulevard Heights the next Reynoldstown? (Urbanize Atlanta)