Two affordable housing developments are moving forward in Southwest Atlanta that officials hope will attract both residents and future business opportunities to the once-thriving retail destination that is Greenbriar Mall.

Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm, recently closed on two projects expected to cost north of $130 million in the Greenbriar community, located next to Interstate 285 just west of East Point.

Collectively, the projects are expected to bring nearly 500 units of affordable housing to underused sites with parking lots along Greenbriar Parkway, adjacent to the 1960s mall that’s struggled—like many—in recent years after losing anchor tenants.

The mall's location in Atlanta's Greenbriar community. Google Maps

Both communities are expected to finish construction and open in 2023, according to Invest Atlanta. Some $68 million in tax-exempt bonds are included in the deals.

The first, Paramount, is planned as a multifamily complex with 240 apartments, expected to cost $70.3 million.

The other project, Briar Park, would bring 244 units reserved for tenants ages 55 and older, or what’s described as independent senior housing.

The Southwest Atlanta sites in question today, along Greenbriar Parkway. Invest Atlanta

When announcing the Paramount and Briar Park ventures in late 2020, Invest Atlanta officials said rents for both projects would be capped at between 50 and 80 percent of the area’s median income.

Both are being developed by Dominium Development & Acquisitions and Beverly J. Searles Foundation.

Invest Atlanta

Invest Atlanta expects the injection of attainable housing—and sheer number of new rooftops, as they say—will “serve as a community catalyst to attract future development and support other services and retail” in the Greenbriar corridor, per an announcement this week.

Greenbriar’s mall, as designed by legendary Atlanta architect John Portman’s firm, debuted in 1965 as a pioneering enclosed shopping center with air-conditioning and a food court, both rare features at the time. (Two years later, the mall would welcome the world’s first Chick-Fil-A.) But as Atlanta magazine recently chronicled, Greenbriar Mall is a shell of its former self, having lost cornerstone big-box tenants Burlington Coat Factory and Macy’s in recent years.

• Long-vacant tower south of downtown being remade as affordable housing (Urbanize Atlanta)