At MARTA's doorstep, affordable housing build in construction homestretch

A year after construction began in earnest, a Decatur affordable housing venture has topped out and entered the homestretch of building phases in an area that’s seen a surge of development steps from a transit station.

The four-story building, Decatur East Phase II, continues the push across Atlanta and inner suburbs to create Transit Oriented Development housing nodes next to MARTA transit hubs.

The project, a partnership between Columbia Residential and Decatur Housing Authority, is slated to deliver 80 more units of affordable senior housing with direct access to MARTA transit at Avondale station.

The station is situated on the eastern fringes of Decatur, along MARTA’s Blue Line.

The Freeman Street facade today. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The scope of MARTA's TOD development to date and how it connects to Avondale station. Decatur East Phase II is at top. Google Maps

Expect one and two-bedroom units with amenities designed for seniors who have a range of incomes below 80 percent of the area median income, according to project officials.

Next door, 92 units of similar housing were opened in the project’s initial phase in 2018, alongside hundreds of other apartments.

According to general contractor J.M Wilkerson Construction, the new building’s amenities will include a courtyard elevated off the street, a fitness room, a business and leasing center, and other community rooms.

MARTA sold the two parcels totaling 1.45 acres next to the rail station to Columbia Residential four years ago, citing the firm’s track record of delivering affordable senior units.

The second phase of senior housing is considered one of the two final pieces of the southside master TOD plan outlined by MARTA, the City of Decatur, Columbia Ventures, and developers Cortland.

According to the Decatur Housing Authority, the current project is on pace to deliver this summer.

MARTA officials previously told Urbanize Atlanta the first units should be available for rent in late summer. Leasing efforts have yet to begin.

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Decatur East Phase II facade at Freeman and New streets. JHP architecture/City of Decatur

Similar mixed-income developments that have opened near stations in recent years—specifically Marchon at King Memorial station and the Quill complex in Edgewood—quickly reached leasing stabilization within six to 12 months, according to MARTA.

Columbia Ventures reported last year that Quill’s lease-up was the fastest the company has experienced, with 40 units being rented per month over a peak leasing period of three months, proving that transit connectedness and living options below market rate is a potent combination.

Hundreds of new housing units have joined MARTA’s Cortland Decatur East in the corridor over the past several years, in both Decatur and Avondale Estates.

The trend is also continuing just west of the MARTA station today, where a project called Halo East Decatur has cleared a full block and begun vertical construction on 370 more rentals, plus retail and plaza space.

The 515 E. Freeman St. site in question in 2022. Google Maps