First look: Summerhill project starts where student housing was axed

In the shadow of downtown Atlanta, plans are coming to light for a three-building townhome development that’s officially underway where a controversial student housing proposal fell apart.

Developers Von Michel Homes and Communities has begun demolition of a vacant Summerhill church at 481 Martin St., a corner property just southeast of downtown near Interstate 20 and Georgia State’s convocation center, basketball arena, and concert hall.

According to Komichel Johnson, a managing member with the project’s developer and builder, the scope calls for 14 for-sale townhouses in three buildings, ranging from 1,457 to 1,600 square feet. Revised renderings indicate each property will stand four stories, with private garages accessed via an internal driveway.

The half-acre site’s former owner, Philadelphia Missionary Baptist Church, previously sold the property to another developer, Parkwood Development, before Johnson’s firm stepped in. The sale continues a trend that's seen numerous intown Atlanta congregations offload underused property and churches for redevelopment. 

“We had a pastor come to the site to bless the church’s demolition,” Johnson noted via email. “He also blessed the dirt for a successful project.”  

Atlanta-based Place Maker Design architects tweaked the townhome plans following community input last year. Once the church demo is complete, Johnson said infrastructure development is scheduled to take about two months, followed by vertical construction commencing in the fourth quarter of this year.

Johnson said it’s too early to estimate what the townhomes will cost right now.

“This is going to be an exciting project for the community,” Johnson said. “We’ve been building in this neighborhood for over 25 years.”

Parkwood had filed plans with the city in early 2023 to replace the empty church with housing for 63 students in a four-story building.

All 63 units would have housed one student and come furnished, cutting down on vehicle traffic associated with moving in and out, per that developer’s application. To encourage walkability, the proposal asked for a variance to reduce the building’s required 63 parking spaces—one for each apartment—down to 24 spaces.

But following a pushback campaign that included a  “No Dorms in Summerhill!” petition, those plans were scrapped. According to naysayers, the 85-foot-tall building would have negatively impacted Summerhill parking, traffic patterns, and utilities used by many single-family residences in the area. Another flyer noted that crime rates and stormwater issues in the area could have also been negatively impacted by a denser project for students.

The townhomes will stand less than half a mile from a new Publix-anchored shopping center and retail destinations along Georgia Avenue, where MARTA's first bus-rapid transit system is currently being built. Bus transit along Capitol and Georgia avenues, Hill Street, and Memorial Drive is also nearby, in addition to a GSU shuttle, as the earlier project’s application pointed out.

While pint-sized, new-construction dorms might have been a new concept for the neighborhood, the project would hardly be the only multifamily build to sprout in the northern blocks of Summerhill in recent years. Others include Alliance Residential Company’s 276-unit Broadstone Summerhill complex (now Victory at Summerhill) across the street, and the 565 Hank project that opened in 2021 with more than 300 rentals.

Head up to the gallery for more context and all available images.

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Flashback: Recalling the 'before' version of Summerhill's vibrant strip (Urbanize Atlanta)