Groundbreaking set for South Atlanta's new mixed-use 'front door'

Invest Atlanta officials, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, and other dignitaries are scheduled to lead a groundbreaking ceremony this week for a relatively small project that developers hope will have an outsized impact in a historic Beltline neighborhood. 

Billed as a new mixed-use “front door” for South Atlanta, the Brownsville Pointe infill project by Focused Community Strategies is set to rise where Jonesboro Road meets McDonough Boulevard SE, a remediated brownfield site formerly home to Diamond J’s Service Station that’s been vacant for years.

Prior to delays, earlier timelines had called for Brownsville Pointe to be open for tenants by early 2026. The groundbreaking is now scheduled for Wednesday morning. 

The South Atlanta intersection in question has “symbolized disinvestment” for decades, said Marvin Nesbitt Jr., FCS president, in a project announcement. “Brownsville Pointe shows what’s possible when development is shaped by community voice,” added Nesbitt, “creating affordable housing, supporting local entrepreneurship, and strengthening the neighborhood without displacement.”

Plans call for 18 apartments—12 of them reserved for tenants earning 60 percent of the Area Median Income or less—along with a 1,790 square foot commercial space. The latter space will be reserved for a sit-down restaurant that neighborhood residents have requested, per the development team. 

Hiring employees from the neighborhood will be a priority at the commercial component, according to FCS, a nonprofit developer founded in 1978 that focuses on South Atlanta and Thomasville Heights.

Brownsville Pointe calls for three buildings on the .53-acre, arrow-shaped parcel about three miles south of downtown and a few blocks from the Beltline’s under-construction Southside Trail corridor.

The three-way intersection also counts Carver Neighborhood Market, Community Grounds Coffee Shop, and other businesses as tenants today. 

Nesbitt recently told Urbanize Atlanta his goal is to deliver Brownsville Pointe by the end of 2026.

The property was contaminated by its former use as a gas station and from nearby dry-cleaning facilities, which left material containing asbestos, according to Invest Atlanta. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 awarded the project a $550,000 brownfield cleanup grant to remediate contamination prior to development, with vapor barriers installed. 

Perks of the location, according to FCS officials, include access to the Beltline’s Southside Trail, Summerhill’s Publix, the new Terminal South project, and the forthcoming, five-mile MARTA Rapid Summerhill BRT line, which is projected to open in April. 

The latter two projects, according to FCS, are just 1/10th of a mile from Brownsville Pointe.

FCS’s roots in South Atlanta are deep, having built more than 200 affordable homes in the community over the past 25 years, while also creating the coffee shop and market across the street from Brownsville Pointe’s site. The developer also manages a rental portfolio of more than 30 single-family homes in the area, company officials have said.   

Brownsville Pointe’s designers, Kronberg Urbanists + Architects, are behind another project in English Avenue with a similar scope and blend of uses that officially debuted in January, as spearheaded by nonprofit Westside Future Fund.

The development team in South Atlanta also includes Sturgis Construction, Flippo Civil Design, and Impact Investor Group.

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