Six months after an Old Fourth Ward project involving Fuqua Development and partners made headlines for what wouldn’t be included (a planned grocery store), its corner site remains cleared but idle. That will change soon, per developers. 

Site work is scheduled to begin “in the coming weeks” at The Bowery, a mixed-use development with nearly 300 new homes at the southeast corner of Boulevard’s intersection with Highland Avenue, just east of downtown, according to officials with Northwood Ravin, Fuqua’s partner on the project. 

Finalized plans for The Bowery call for a 273-unit apartment building and two townhome blocks with 12 units total. Roughly 10,000 square feet of retail with patio spaces will now operate at street level. 

As seen this week, the cleared, fenced-off, but idle 505 Highland Ave. NE site where The Bowery is planned. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Another 2,000 square feet of retail or incubator space will be placed so that it faces a popular dog park next door, Freedom Barkway. (The project’s 400-space parking deck will include 17 spaces reserved for dog park patrons, according to plans.)

Along with site work, “we are preparing to bring the project to the retail market and begin generating interest in the ground‑level retail and micro‑retail spaces,” a project rep wrote to Urbanize Atlanta today. 

A Special Administrative Permit for The Bowery’s construction was approved by the Department of City Planning in 2023. Other aspects of the project remain under review, city records show. 

The Bowery at Old Fourth Ward's latest rendering showing finalized plans for townhomes (left), retail, and apartments along Highland Avenue. Courtesy of Northwood Ravin/Fuqua Development

Rough boundaries of the Old Fourth Ward property in question, where Highland Avenue meets Boulevard, just north of the neighborhood dog park. Google Maps

Develop Fulton (formerly the Development Authority of Fulton County) in 2023 approved the development team’s request for $5.7 million in tax savings across 10 years for the three-building project that will consume nearly a full block. 

At the time, The Bowery was expected to include a large grocery option for the neighborhood (reportedly a Publix). But according to Northwood Ravin, Wellstar’s sudden closure of nearby Atlanta Medical Center, which cost the area jobs and significant daytime population, along with the city’s subsequent clampdown on property rezoning, later scared away potential grocery tenants.  

Residents in the area voiced concerns last summer The Bowery’s tax breaks were contingent on the inclusion of a grocery store, but Develop Fulton officials and developers have said that was never the case. No one involved with the project has lent any indication what the grocery store’s replacement might be, however.  

Earlier developer projections put The Bowery’s construction start at last fall, prior to delays. 

The project is expected to open in 2028. 

An early look at the proposal's scope as it relates to Tribute Lofts, pictured at right. Submitted

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