Timeline emerges for 3-building affordable housing, restaurant mix

A construction timeline has come to light as the search for restauranteurs begins at a unique infill project claiming a vacant corner lot in South Atlanta.

Environmental remediation has begun for Brownsville Point, a three-building mixed-use venture that will rise on an arrow-shaped parcel where McDonough Boulevard meets Jonesboro Road.

The .53-acre site is situated about three miles south of downtown and a few blocks from the Beltline’s Southside Trail corridor.

Alongside two residential buildings, Brownsville Pointe will include a brick-clad, two-story restaurant space that developer Focused Community Strategies says will offer prime visibility at a three-way intersection that counts Carver Neighborhood Market, Community Grounds Coffee Shop, and other businesses as tenants.

FCS has hired Atlanta real estate advisory firm terra alma to lease the 2,800-square-foot space, citing the firm’s success in leasing the new Halidom Eatery food hall on Moreland Avenue.

“The type of operator they have at Halidom is close to what we are looking for,” said Marvin Nesbitt, FCS senior director of community development, in a leasing announcement.

“[We’re] looking for an operator who can provide a great dining experience," Nesbitt continued, "but also connect with the neighborhood and embrace its rich history and diversity.”

With preliminary environmental work underway, project officials say the goal is to open the restaurant building by late 2025 or early 2026. Selling points include ceilings that will rise 12 and 11 feet, officials have said.

Brownsville Pointe’s residential plans call for two buildings standing three stories with 18 apartments total—12 of them reserved as affordable housing at 60 percent of the area median income or below.

The property was contaminated by its former use as a gas station and from nearby dry-cleaning facilities, which left material containing asbestos, according to Invest Atlanta. Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the project a $550,000 brownfield cleanup grant intended to remediate contamination prior to development, with vapor barriers installed. 

Perks of the location, according to FCS officials, include access to the Beltline’s Southside Trail, Summerhill’s Publix, the under-construction Terminal South food hall project, and the forthcoming, five-mile MARTA Rapid Summerhill BRT line.  

The latter two projects, according to FCS, are just 1/10th of a mile from Brownsville Pointe.

The property, which FCS purchased in 2018, most recently functioned as a gas station, but that closed years ago, and the buried fuel tanks have been removed. In 2019, FCS floated plans for converting a convenience store building left standing on site into a sit-down restaurant that didn’t come to fruition.

FCS has deep roots in South Atlanta, having built more than 200 affordable homes in the community over the past 25 years, while also creating the coffee shop and market across the street from Brownsville Pointe’s site. The developer manages a rental portfolio of 34 single-family homes in the area today, per company officials.  

Brownsville Pointe’s designers, Kronberg Urbanists + Architects, are behind another project in English Avenue with a similar scope and blend of uses that’s under construction now, spearheaded by nonprofit Westside Future Fund.

Find a closer look at the South Atlanta plans in the gallery above.

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• South of downtown, affordable housing venture declared finished (Urbanize Atlanta)