The owner of two small apartment communities in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood is pursuing plans to construct a 34-unit workforce housing project with six units reserved at below market rates. An ordinance to rezone the project sites, which are at 575-585 Boulevard Place and owned by multifamily developer Braden Fellman Group, from low-density to high-density residential is shown as a deferred item on the city Zoning Review Board’s Thursday meeting agenda.
Received by the city in September, plans call for the demolition of the site’s two multifamily buildings to make way for a new three-story residential building rising about 43 feet at its highest point. The site itself is located at the southwest corner of Glen Iris Drive and Boulevard Place.
The new unit makeup would consist of 10 studio apartments and 24 one-bedrooms, with the studios averaging 519 square feet and the one-bedrooms ranging from an average of 573 square feet to 751 square feet. The developer, which would reserve six units to affordability at 80 percent of area median income, expects market rents of $1,365 and $1,500 for the one-bedrooms and $1,241 for the studios.
The architect for the proposed development is shown as McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture in project filings.
Braden Fellman specializes in redeveloping and reviving multifamily properties built in the first half of the 20th century, with a portfolio of apartments, lofts, and commercial properties in a wide variety of Atlanta neighborhoods.
7 Responses
This project has been rejected in current form by the O4W NPU. Adjacent neighbors (NIMBYs) on Morgan Street are not happy having views of PCM obstructed. Meanwhile, this is probably one of the oldest and least maintained properties in the O4W – frankly, I don’t know how it hasn’t been condemned yet.
I was curious about the condition of the current property. If we really want to maintain affordable housing, why aren’t projects like this updated and rented as such? I know the developers want to make money, so that will never happen, but it seems like we as a city talk a lot about affordable housing, but it doesn’t really mean that much.
The buildings were built in the early 1940s. We looked into the option of saving the buildings. Unfortunately, they would be very expensive to be saved. There is also extensive storm water problem on the site that can’t be addressed without removing the buildings. Up hill development has created a literal watershed to this site that is a real challenge. The burden of resolving that falls on the Braden Fellman Group and has significant costs. These costs need to be offset with increase in rental rates. However we are still going to provide 15% of the units at affordable (80% AMI). We would also note that BFG has been providing affordable and workforce housing options in midtown -ponce corridor for over 35 years. They own for the long term, this is demonstrated with the numerous properties they own and manage throughout the community. I would also note that the topography is very difficult for the new construction home owner’s directly behind the project. All 5 parcels directly behind this project have first floor elevations between 12 and 28 ft above the first floor of our proposed 3 story building. -Joe Alcock Principal Architect for McMillan Pazdan Smith.
$1200 for a studio (one person) doesn’t seem particularly affordable to me.
Especially since there is no mention of amenities such as a pool.
But hey, it’s Braden Fellman…
Well I was thinking that too. For the people I know who need affordable housing in this city, this seems way out of budget.
$1241 is their expected market rent for a studio. However, they are saying they are also reserving 6 units for 80% of area median income, which is the “affordable” part, below $1200 per month.
We are working to update this property and improve the neighborhood. This project will provide cost effective living option intown and 15% of the units will be affordable. The project will also have a green roof and is using environmentally friendly CLT (mass timber construction). We are also providing off street parking in a basement level garage. The current property has no off street parking.