Atlanta Housing selects developers for mixed-use plan at civic center

“This was a historic vote,” said Atlanta Housing President and CEO Eugene Jones.

The selections come as a milestone for Atlanta, after officials spent eight years seeking someone to bring their vision to fruition.

Caption

Atlanta Housing Authority members listen to Trish O’Connell, Deputy Chief Real Estate Officer, to the proposal to build affordable housing at the Civic Center grounds during the monthly board meeting at the Atlanta Housing Authority office on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Miguel Martinez / miguel.martinezjimenez@ajc.com

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Caption

Atlanta Housing Authority members listen to Trish O’Connell, Deputy Chief Real Estate Officer, to the proposal to build affordable housing at the Civic Center grounds during the monthly board meeting at the Atlanta Housing Authority office on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Miguel Martinez / miguel.martinezjimenez@ajc.com

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

City officials closed the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center in 2014. Then-Mayor Kasim Reed announced a year later that Houston developer Weingarten Realty wanted to buy the site from the city to perform the $300 million project. But the deal fell through in 2016.

Atlanta Housing later purchased the property for $31 million in 2017. The housing agency wanted to partner with Weingarten, but that plan failed as well.

Those mishaps left Atlanta with a money drainer in a prime location for development. The site sits at Piedmont Avenue and Ralph McGill Boulevard near Georgia Power’s headquarters at the intersection of downtown and Midtown. It’s near the Civic Center MARTA station and several new apartments.

Last month, Jones said the housing board was considering five proposals for the site. Although the agency has not disclosed additional details about the proposals, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained letters showing Fulton County officials pitched the creation of a Grammy Museum within the broader mixed-use plan.

New board member Duriya Farooqui said the board spent time in executive session urging Jones and the agency to maximize the potential of adding additional units into the project’s design. Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the agency wants to complete the project by 2030 at a cost of $1 billion.

“We appreciate your concerns about more affordable housing to make sure that we live up to the mayor’s (goal of building) 20,000 more affordable housing units,” Jones told the board.