First look: Project set to replace woods near popular eastside park

The trend of building infill, for-sale townhomes on vacated or wooded properties in Edgewood and Kirkwood is set to continue along a main street for both neighborhoods.

Local homebuilder and developer RHR Investments is moving forward with plans for a five-townhome project at the southeast corner of Hosea L. Williams Drive and Montgomery Street, near the point where Kirkwood’s western border meets Edgewood. 

The wooded site is less than a block from Kirkwood’s Coan Park, a popular eastside greenspace for recreation, sports, and events along PATH’s Eastside Trolley Trail.

RHR Investments is seeking to rezone four parcels totaling .44 acres in the 1400 block of Hosea Williams Drive from a single-family designation to PD-H, or a planned development classification that allows for denser infill projects. 

The three-story, 16-foot-wide townhomes designed by Studio Sogo call for “an aesthetic blend of old-world charm with a new world feel” atop single-car garages, according to city filings. 

The property is wooded now, and developers note the townhomes would displace no one while creating for-sale housing options .7 miles from a MARTA station in the desirable Atlanta Public Schools Jackson school cluster. “Our price points will allow teachers, [firemen], and city employees the opportunity to work closer to their places of employment ... reducing the congestion on our roads,” notes a project description.

The price point, according to RHR Investments head Stephen Holmes, calls for asking prices between $550,0000 and $650,000. According to Holmes’ tabulations, that would be 20 to 25 percent less than what comparable new properties in the area are asking.  

Plans call for each townhome to have three bedrooms and three bathrooms in roughly 1,800 square feet. 

The Kirkwood Neighbors Organization voted to support the project at its monthly meeting earlier this month, according to Mathew George, KNO board president. 

Holmes tells Urbanize Atlanta that, pending all city approvals, his goal is to deliver the townhomes in the fourth quarter of 2026. He describes the site as “tricky,” in that the project has to navigate a stream-buffer variance, with preserved woods in between. The developable property is not in a flood-hazard area, according to site plan filings. 

RHR Investments’ other work around Atlanta includes a commercial project at 300 Milton Ave. where sandwich shop Hudson & Alphonse operates.  

“We recently applied for the Beltline Developer Initiative,” Holmes noted via email, “and as small developers, community residents, and native Atlantans, we are here to serve the community and support the growth of small business.” 

As townhomes, the project would be a relative anomaly for Hosea Williams Drive, an important east-west thoroughfare that’s mostly lined with single-family homes in the area. However, in recent years, dozens of townhomes have delivered in several projects across more northern blocks of both Kirkwood and Edgewood—especially near Pullman Yards—and also in numerous places along the Memorial Drive corridor.

The project also marks the second time in recent weeks that construction-related signage has popped up around a wooded section of Kirkwood. 

Tree-removal zoning signs now stand at a patch of woods immediately south of Kirkwood Dog Park and the Eastside Trolley Trail, signaling that more housing is in the works. But according to permitting information, it’ll be just one house in this case. 

The 73 Clifton St. site is slated for construction of a two-story, single-family home with a basement, porches, a patio, and walkway, according to permitting records. That development team includes Adam Stillman Residential Design and general contractors A Gotham Project, according to filings and signage on site.

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