The City of Atlanta is dangling one of its firehouses in front of developers in hopes of capitalizing on Midtown’s sizzling real estate market and adding to its stock of affordable housing.

Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation have officially kicked off efforts to swap Midtown Fire Station 15 with a mixed-use high-rise that features both affordable living options and a modernized new firehouse at its base.

It marks the first project for AUD, the nonprofit subsidiary of Atlanta Housing established to lead development of publicly owned land in the city.

City officials issued a Request for Qualifications, or RFQ, on Jan. 12 for developers capable of redeveloping the firehouse’s .78-acre property at 170 10th St.

Midtown Fire Station 15 as seen in January 2023, prior to vertical construction on the 32-story Modera Parkside tower next door, at right. Google Maps

Atlanta Urban Development Corporation

According to the RFQ, the fire station was built in 1986 and still functions as an essential facility in the heart of Midtown. But blocks around the station have been transformed into clusters of glassy high-rise buildings during a Midtown development boom that’s stretched for more than a decade. That includes the formerly empty parcel immediately next door, to the east, where Mill Creek Residential is erecting a 32-story tower called Modera Parkside.

The RFQ describes Midtown's multifamily market as the strongest in the Southeast right now. 

AUD is aiming to “redevelop the property into a dense, residential tower, incorporating both market [rate] and affordable units, with a newly built fire station on the ground floor,” reads the paperwork. John Majors, AUD’s CEO, said in an announcement the project could create a blueprint for remaking underutilized public land with multiple benefits, including “deeply, permanently affordable housing.” 

Creating or preserving 20,000 units of affordable housing by 2029 has been a key pillar and goal of Dickens’ mayorship since he took office in 2022.   

All responses to the RFQ are due by March 4, after which AUD officials will begin vetting packages turned in by developers.

Atlanta Urban Development Corporation

Bait deployed by AUD in the RFQ. Atlanta Urban Development Corporation

According to the RFQ, the city is expected to interview developers in March and April and make its pick by the final week of the latter month.

“The Midtown fire-station redevelopment allows the city to move forward with two critical projects at the same time—fully renovate Fire Station 15 and substantially increase Midtown’s affordable housing portfolio,” Dickens said in a prepared statement.

The latest rendering depicting the project's west facade, toward Peachtree Street. Developers have said a mural will be applied here. Mill Creek Residential; designs, Gresham Smith

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Midtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)