Huff Road’s transition from a scruffy postindustrial district to a denser residential corridor continues. 

Officials with Empire Communities tell Urbanize Atlanta they’re moving forward with a project that would bring 179 condos and townhomes across five acres in Blandtown, near the Goat Farm Arts Center, with prices starting from the high $200,000s.

The three-block site is vacant now, located just west of Howell Mill Road and one block from another of Empire’s many intown endeavors, Empire Crosby, where 69 recently finished townhomes start in the low $400,000s.

The Huff Road site, at right, as seen in 2019. Google Maps

The Blandtown venture will be named “Empire Longreen”—a nod to a half-acre public greenspace the company is planning to build along Booth Avenue as part of the development.

Empire has been collaborating with former Blandtown Neighborhood Association president Renee Wright to “preserve and showcase the neighborhood’s legacy and identity through signage and art monuments that both support the revival of the neighborhood while embracing the area’s unique heritage,” project reps wrote in an email.

The parcel in question, west of Atlanta's waterworks. Empire's plans also include the wooded parcels to the left, where a communal greenspace is planned.City of Atlanta

Empire closed on the site in December and expects to break ground in the second quarter of this year.

The breakdown would be 152 condos and 27 townhomes, ranging from 600-square-foot one-bedrooms to more standard three-bedroom plans of about 1,800 square feet.

Prices will top out in the low $500,000s, the company says.

In addition to increased walkability in recent years, Empire reps point to proximity to the Westside Provisions District, Topgolf Atlanta, the BeltLine, the Goat Farm, and forthcoming Westside Park as perks of living in Blandtown.

At the historic Goat Farm campus, Inman Quarter owner TriBridge Residential unveiled plans in 2019 for the addition of multifamily rentals, art studios, and possibly some retail, but at last check, that $250-million investment had yet to move forward.

Condos and townhomes would be built roughly a block from the Goat Farm Arts Center, seen at bottom right. Google Maps

Elsewhere in Atlanta, Empire is building the rainbow-hued Paintbox townhomes in Kirkwood, rental townhomes in the Pittsburgh neighborhood, the Lovetree project in Summerhill, along with active ventures from Buckhead to Boulevard Heights.

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