A high-rise injection of hundreds of more living options could be in the cards between Historic Fourth Ward Park and the Atlanta Beltline’s most popular stretch.

A two-pronged proposal described as the “final phase” of New City Properties’ towering Fourth Ward project is set to come before the Atlanta Beltline Design Review Committee with a list of requested site variations that developers feel are necessary to make the project viable.

The parcels in question—identified as D and E—span almost 4 acres collectively, tucked between Fourth Ward project’s existing four towers and Ralph McGill Boulevard.

Today the properties include surface parking, low-rise offices, the former Venkman’s restaurant and live music venue, and a building where New City currently houses its offices. The developer previously succeed in having the properties rezoned to MRC-3-C, a designation that allows for high-density residential and commercial uses.  

According to the Oct. 16 agenda for the Beltline DRC’s monthly meeting, each of the two parcels could see a new residential building standing up to 20 stories. (For context, Fourth Ward’s project’s first residential component, the Overline Residences apartment building, stands 18 stories immediately to the north.)

Overview of Fourth Ward Project's parcel's D and E along Ralph McGill Boulevard, with the Beltline corridor shown at right. Google Maps

Each of the new structures would also have three levels of parking underground, community spaces, and podium retail, according to the meeting agenda for Beltline DRC, an advisory group charged with making recommendations to the city and ensuring Beltline overlay district regulations are met.

A bridge structure from the new buildings’ amenities level would be placed over North Angier Avenue to connect to an elevated section of Fourth Ward project’s office buildings known as Three Tree Hill Plaza, according to the agenda.

Final designs for that connection—like the last phase overall—are pending.

According to New City's team, one goal of the new buildings will be to maintain connectivity to Historic Fourth Ward Park, an adjacent greenspace designed to capture floodwaters, as it succeeded in doing during Hurricane Helene’s recent deluge.

New City filed plans with the city’s Office of Zoning and Development in summer 2023 to bring both parcels into its master plan for new construction. Both were added to the developer’s holdings in the area after the company had bought 12 acres of former parking lots and low-rise offices from Georgia Power Company for $34 million seven years ago.

The project's last phase will include about 460 feet of frontage on Ralph McGill Boulevard, about a block west of the Beltline’s popular Eastside Trail, per earlier filings. 

Jim Irwin, New City president, told Urbanize Atlanta last year his company had hired Berlin-based architecture firm Barkow Leibinger to “bring European sensibility” and design “incredibly special” architecture to act as the project’s southwestern-most front door.

The properties in question along Ralph McGill Boulevard, as seen in January 2023. Google Maps

The 2023 rezoning application called the parcels “underdeveloped and underutilized” today, with “large, paved parking areas that are eyesores.” The application promised to incorporate new connective streets, bicycle parking, sidewalks, and public spaces to help link the property and neighborhood with the nearby park and Beltline.

Elsewhere around the Fourth Ward project, the stair-stepped, 359-unit Overline Residences building debuted a year ago, followed by the adjacent, 16-story Forth Atlanta hotel and restaurant concept this past summer.

Earlier this year, email marketing company Mailchimp moved into its 360,000-square-foot headquarters fronting the Beltline.

A third, taller office tower just south of Mailchimp’s new HQ was expected to be under construction in 2023 but has yet to break ground amidst the city’s slumping office market. Irwin has previously told Urbanize Atlanta that project remains in an “any-minute-now position” and is prepared to start excavation work at any time.

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• Old Fourth Ward news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)