Images: Atlanta-style infill development popping up on Georgia’s coast

An infill housing development that wouldn’t look out of place in Atlanta neighborhoods such as Edgewood or Grove Park is rounding into shape in a coastal Georgia city making strides toward revitalizing its historic downtown district. 

The Reynolds Cottages project, a partnership between Atlanta-based Kronberg Urbanists + Architects and economic development agency Forward Brunswick, is replacing a vacant 3-acre block with workforce housing in Brunswick, a mainland port city neighboring Jekyll and St. Simons islands.

The 2400 Reynolds St. site in question is walkable to Brunswick’s slate of downtown shopping and restaurants, with 46 units eventually planned in 33 buildings as a means of combating “a dire need for attainable [missing middle] housing and suppressed incomes,” per the Kronberg firm’s description. 

According to recent marketing materials, the under-construction, 21-unit phase one is offering for-sale houses that start at $145,000. That floorplan, the Gardenia, includes one bedroom and bathroom in 434 square feet.

Meanwhile, the largest offering currently for sale, the Warbler plan, counts three bedrooms and one and ½ bathrooms in two stories, totaling 1,104 square feet. Asking price: $275,000. 

Eric Kronberg, the design firm’s founder, says the project’s second phase is nearly finished with designs, and that the project overall “highlights possibilities when you legalize housing—unlike Atlanta.” 

“Brunswick overhauled their zoning to make small lot, multi-unit infill legal,” Kronberg noted via email. “Atlanta is trying to update its zoning without allowing more, smaller homes, which is key to providing more attainable housing for both first-time homeowners and downsizers.” 

The Brunswick design has preserved towering live oaks on site and follows a historic local precedent that favored compact cottages on smaller lots with parking via alleys. 

Other Reynolds Cottages options will be for rent, ranging from $650 monthly for one-bedroom units to $1,650 for three-bedrooms, per Kronberg.

The project received a $2.5-million grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs’ Workforce Housing Infrastructure Grant Program to help cover infrastructure costs.  

Marketing materials describe Reynolds Cottages as “a harmonious blend of rental and for-sale units” with “a focus on enhancing quality of life and fostering a sense of belonging.” 

In the gallery above, find more Brunswick context and project visuals. 

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• Two-pronged downtown project aims to uplift coastal Georgia city Brunswick (Urbanize Atlanta)