When it comes to the growing need for affordable housing in metro Atlanta, big ideas have hatched lately for downtown parking lots, weedy parcels in prime locations, and underused sites near MARTA transit.

But a Roswell-based real estate firm has been targeting a more surprising classification of land use to create housing they call both safe and attainable: metro Atlanta mobile home parks.

Forrest Street Partners announced this week the purchase of its second mobile home park in metro Atlanta about 15 minutes west of downtown, where it plans to infill 50 vacant lots by building new mobile homes with either one or three bedrooms.

The 78-lot Douglasville property—Dogwood Blossom Mobile Home Park—was selected in part because of Douglas County’s 10 percent growth rate over the past decade, and recent investments in nearby tech jobs by the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, according to company reps.

“Dogwood Blossom has served Douglasville residents for several decades,” Brandon Crim, a Forrest Street partner, said in a prepared statement. “We’re excited to bring new life into this park.”

Entry to the 78-lot Douglasville site, 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta. Courtesy of Forrest Street Partners

Estimated home prices weren’t specified, but officials said the Douglasville redevelopment’s goal will be to supply "affordable housing in a safe and peaceful environment that all residents can be proud to call home.”

In addition to building new housing, Forrest Street plans to upgrade the park’s road system, signage, landscaping, amenities, connectivity to public water, and other infrastructure.

On the flipside of town, the company previously bought a 307-site property called Riverside Estates in a growing section of Covington. Forrest Street plans to upgrade that property and add 20 new homes.

The Riverside Estates property in Covington where 20 new homes are planned. Courtesy of Forrest Street Partners

Beyond metro Atlanta, the boutique firm’s focus has been to identify, reposition, and operate RV parks, manufactured home communities, and retail properties around the Southeast.

“It’s nice to have such a great project in our own backyard,” Crim noted. “The growth in Douglasville and the Atlanta metro area has created the need for more affordable housing, and we’re proud to be able to fill part of that need.”

CLARIFICATION, September 23: This article has been updated to reflect that housing being built at both metro Atlanta sites will also be mobile homes, not "sticks and bricks," as a project rep clarifies. They add: "Forrest Street is taking available lots and bringing in more mobile homes to create more supply of homes in the mobile home park."

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