The Neighborhood Planning Unit for Collier Heights, Peyton Forest, and others in Southwest Atlanta will review rezoning plans for a 700-unit senior living project on an 11.8-acre property near the Ivan Hill neighborhood, the NPU-I Wednesday evening meeting agenda shows.
Named Lynhurst Independent, the project is being pursued by property owner Celeste Property Ventures LLC, which is registered to a New York address and tied to Yoav Bitter in application filings.
Atlanta-based planning firm GreenRock Partners describes the project in application filings as significant both to the immediate neighborhood and Southwest Atlanta.
“People in Southwest Atlanta have been calling for new development to bring amenities that they want in their communities – restaurants, shopping, businesses and community improvements,” the company writes.
“In order to attract these businesses, there must be more quality development bringing people and families to the area and also indicating to other potential investors that this is a viable market.”
The existing site is undeveloped aside from one vacant home at the front of the property. It is located 1,800 feet south of Martin Luther King, Jr Drive and fronts just over 250 feet of Lynhurst Drive from the west. North Utoy Creek forms the southern property line, with multifamily community London Town Houses bordering the west of the site.
The project’s 700 units would be found across three buildings ranging from as low as five stories to as many as 14 stories. While one building would rise between five or seven stories along Lynhurst Drive, the two others, which wouldn’t be visible from Lynhurst Drive, would rise anywhere between five and 14 stories and eight and 10 stories, respectively, the site plan shows. Plans call for the taller two buildings to offer views of Downtown Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain, and the surrounding hills.
The unit mix would feature 280 studios, 345 one-bedrooms, and 175 two-bedrooms, with 250 of the studios and 30 of the one-bedrooms affordable at 60-percent of area median income, the application paperwork shows. Expected average rents for the market-rate units are listed as $1,050, $1,750, and $2,100, respectively.
Though almost half of the nearly 12-acre site would remain as protected greenspace, Lynhurst Independent would also feature upwards of 50,000 square feet of amenities, including offices, co-working office space, a gym, restaurants, beauty salon, nail salon, barber shop, and coffee shop and bakery. These would be open not only to existing residents but also to the immediate community as a way to meet their needs and create interactions, according to GreenRock.
On top of allowing existing and new senior residents to locate in Southwest Atlanta, the project team also anticipates Lynhurst Independent having a catalyzing effect for nearby properties.
“This community needs successful, high quality development to lead economic transformation,” GreenRock writes.
