A multi-building project that would transform three lots near a growing trail system and Selig Enterprises’ The Works is aiming to start making visible progress soon. 

Atlanta-based Vida, a multifamily and build-to-rent real estate development firm, plans to begin prep work this spring in the 2000 block of Marietta Boulevard to set the stage for a mixed-use project called GuildHouse at Upper Westside. That will include demolition of existing buildings. 

According to Joe Martinez, Vida president, the firm pulled land disturbance permits last fall to start work across the three Marietta Boulevard parcels in question. 

Vida is currently working to finish seed funding for what’s called Vida Opportunities Fund I. The $47-million 506(c) fund is structured to help pay for construction of three projects, including GuildHouse and another multifamily project Vida is pursuing in Buford: the 332-unit Carrena at Mall of Georgia, planned for 3172 Financial Center Way, where work is also scheduled to begin this spring. 

Martinez told Urbanize Atlanta this week the GuildHouse development schedule calls for starting full vertical construction this summer. 

“Our fundraise is getting some really great traction,” he noted via email. 

The sites in question in 2023, along the eastern side of Marietta Boulevard. Google Maps

How retail and apartment facades would look along Marietta Boulevard.Courtesy of Vida

GuildHouse would rise across a 6.68-acre assemblage in the Bolton neighborhood, replacing lots used for bus and truck storage, a café building, and a one-story NAPA Auto Parts store with a range of residential and retail development. The properties are situated across the street from Crest Lawn Memorial Park and around the corner from popular Mexican restaurant Nuevo Laredo Cantina on Chattahoochee Avenue.

The GuildHouse site plan calls for a blend of BTR townhomes, traditional apartments, and commercial space for the neighborhood, all situated around a pocket park. 

Specifically, plans call for 39 BTR townhomes, each standing three stories with three bedrooms and two-car garages. Adjacent to that would be 354 apartments, ranging from 550 to 1,350 square feet, with a parking deck. Amenities call for a saltwater pool, coffee bar, sky lounge, pet spa, and two courtyards, according to Vida. 

The project’s 7,200 square feet of commercial space would face the pocket park. Atlanta-based commercial advisory firm Terra Alma was hired last year to lead retail leasing at the GuildHouse project. 

Courtesy of Marcus & Millichap

Planned internal functionality between townhomes, apartments, and retail. Courtesy of Proxima Residential/Vida Companies; designs, Geheber Lewis Associates/2023

Another perk of the location is the next, under-construction phase of PATH Foundation’s Silver Comet Connector, which will help link the property to adaptive-reuse hub The Works—and to the Beltline’s new Northwest Trail section beyond that. 

The sales price for the three parcels in 2023 was $13.05 million, according to the Marcus and Millichap real estate investment firm, the deal's brokers.

Along with large retail and office projects, Vida’s leadership team has developed more than 7,000 housing units worth more than $1.7 billion over the past two decades. The GuildHouse project is being timed to coincide with a lack of new apartment deliveries over the next two years to meet demand Atlanta has historically seen, Martinez has said. 

How the three facets of new development would be arranged on combined parcels in the 2000 block of Marietta Boulevard. Courtesy of Proxima Residential/Vida Companies; designs, Geheber Lewis Associates/2023

Coined “Upper Westside,” the area in question has evolved in recent years from an industrial zone into a Beltline-connected brewery and loft-office district with a wave of new housing, located between Atlantic Station and Interstate 285. 

Newer residential developments within a few blocks of the GuildHouse site include Broadstone Upper Westside, Altus at the Quarter, and a more recent mixed-use project called BRYKS Upper Westside, which has delivered 600 more apartments in two buildings. 

Across Georgia, Vida’s other current projects include Verona in Fairburn and Solara in Powder Springs. The company is also part of a team building a village-like mix of commercial and residential structures on a 7-acre Oakland City site about a block from the Beltline’s Westside Trail.

Find more context and visuals for what’s planned to start this year along Marietta Boulevard in the gallery above. 

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