Developers Hedgwood Homes have filed a rezoning application for a twelve-townhome project in south Buckhead, an area dominated by small multifamily buildings. The project would demolish three existing multifamily buildings, which have “either existing or the potential for five multifamily units” and replace them with twelve for-sale townhomes.
The project is seeking a rezoning from RG-2 residential to RG-3 residential, which would allow for a greater Floor to Area Ratio (FAR). According to a siteplan summited with the rezoning application, the townhomes would be built parallel to Sheridan Avenue in an alternating pattern, with some townhomes taking up the entire lot and some townhomes sharing a lot.
The townhomes would range in size from 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathrooms to 4 bed and 3.5 bathrooms. The estimated sale price according to the application is $750,000 – $1.2 million. Each townhome would feature a private garden of varying size, and some would include a pool and a four car garage. The property would be serviced by an access road bordering the development.
The project was reviewed by Neighborhood Planning Unit – B on Tuesday, September 7th. The project is next scheduled to go before the Zoning Review Board tonight, September 9th, where its zoning change application will be decided.
3 Responses
Last year I sat through a big presentation from the city planning office about how the move away from single-family zoning was necessary to provide more affordable missing middle housing and I totally bought it…yet every rezoning request I have seen seems to be replacing single-family housing with high-density luxury units listed for millions of dollars. My neighborhood just fought off one of these false pretense rezoning requests. I encourage everyone to take a close look at every rezoning request impacting their neighborhood and fight off these cash grabs. And shame on the city for trying to sell us a false narrative. This is about lining pockets, not helping people. I was supportive of mixed use zoning and integrating missing middle into our SFH neighborhoods, but the reality is there is no intention of providing affordable missing middle housing – these new builds will just ensure property taxes skyrocket and those of us in single-family housing will be priced right out of our neighborhoods.
Looks like a thoughtful project that increases density and preserves some greenspace, so I would say this is a win. 18 units instead of 5 units regardless of cost or level of luxury is a win as increasing the total amount of supply is better than doing nothing.
Some will argue that if the housing is at a higher price point, building it is a bad thing. The number of high-income people in the market to buy housing does not change, so these buyers will simply bid up the cost of other housing more affordable regardless. (See Old Fourth Ward and other neighborhoods). At the end of the day, more housing to meet overall supply creates housing for everyone. The most restrictive cities (to development) end up being the most expensive — see San Fran, New York, Boston, LA… On the flip side places like Houston and Dallas remain more affordable because they build a crazy amount of housing. Whether developers get rich doing it, shouldn’t matter. It’s a job with lots of risks — a lot of projects fail, and developers go bankrupt. They put their personal capital at risk. They are the ones building the housing that all of us are living in. If there was more supply, there would be less opportunity for developers to increase supply based on scarcity.
I’ll be moving to Atlanta this spring and I’m gonna be looking for up and coming new construction that’s affordable for all!!