Originally Posted by boomtown
Beltline deal possible on Atlanta’s vibrant Eastside
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Douglas Sams
North American Properties is front-runner to acquire tract on DeKalb Avenue that has frontage on the Atlanta Beltline trail.
North American Properties is poised to make another bet on the Atlanta Beltline, this time along a heavily industrial stretch of DeKalb Avenue.
The Cincinnati-based developer — which has a large office in Atlanta — has emerged as the front-runner to acquire a 1.7-acre tract where the Beltline enters DeKalb Avenue across from CSX Corp. terminal at Hulsey Yard.
North American Properties might consider a 225- to 275-unit apartment project on the site, which is one of the Beltline’s most interesting and potentially complex. The Atlanta Streetcar could eventually be routed under the development. The property also includes frontage on the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail.
The developer could pay in the range of $2.5 million for the site, according to Databank Inc., an Atlanta research firm focused on commercial real estate.
“This is another example of the [gentrification] of Atlanta’s vibrant east side,” said Will Mathews, a vice president with Colliers International’s Southeast multifamily advisory group. “I anticipate more development on the Beltline bordering DeKalb Avenue to service increasing demand.”
In February, Atlanta BeltLine Inc. issued a request for proposals seeking a real estate company to buy and redevelop the site, which lies in a “revitalizing area between Edgewood and DeKalb avenues, nearby neighborhoods ... and is a gateway to the Eastside trail.”
The BeltLine also wanted the development to add more retail and commercial units along the Edgewood and DeKalb corridors and feature “a pedestrian-friendly urban design.”
In 2007, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation gave $8 million to help build the Historic Fourth Ward Park, a key step in the construction of the Eastside Trail. Since then, 2,353 market-rate apartments have been built along the route, another 632 units are supposed to be finished over the next two years, and almost 1,400 more remain in the development pipeline, real estate consulting firm Haddow & Co. said.
North American Properties is a major player in Atlanta, with its Avalon project in Alpharetta and its turnaround of the retail heart of Midtown’s Atlantic Station on 17th Street taking the spotlight.
It’s also become one of the busiest apartment developers in the Old Fourth Ward.
North American is trying to capture the demand for rental housing from employees seeking to live within walking or biking distance of their intown offices.
Just south of Old Fourth Ward, 670 DeKalb Avenue sits between the King Memorial and Edgewood Candler Park train stations.
MARTA has struck deals with developers that would build more rental housing around those stations.
The area is also only about a 10-minute walk to Ponce City Market, said Amanda Rhein, senior director of transit-oriented development for MARTA.
“There is a shift in investment toward these unique intown areas,” Rhein said, adding that the neighborhoods have the largest concentrations of authentic, historic buildings.
|
Prev
Linear Mode
