City breaks ground on new apartments, adding affordable housing to SW Atlanta neighborhood

Steve Gehlbach
·2 min read
1

New affordable housing is coming to Southwest Atlanta, and it’s tied to public transportation.

Crews broke ground on a community next to the Hamilton E. Holmes MARTA station on Wednesday.

The once-vacant site sits right across the street from the station. Soon 52 new apartments will be built there for a new opportunity for 52 families.

“We want them to have safe streets, dignified living spaces that will fill us with pride,” Atlanta City Councilwoman Andrea Boone said.

City leaders, developer Gorman & Company, and neighbors gathered to break ground Wednesday morning on what will be called Hamilton Hills.

The 52 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments will be affordable housing, renting to those who make under about half the county’s median income.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens made the issue a priority for his administration, promising 20,000 new units of affordable housing by 2030, and said it’s not just about large-scale development.

TRENDING STORIES:

“Even these small ones -- 52, 60, 100 -- they add up. Because each one represents a family that’s going to be able to afford to live in the city of Atlanta adjacent to where I grew up and near my church and near this transit,” Dickens said.

The entire corridor along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive is getting redeveloped.

The pastor at neighboring New Horizon Baptist Church, the Rev. Sean Smith, calls the project a tremendous seed for the community.

“That will continue to serve the true transformation but not replace people that were here and our legacy residents,” Smith said.

One neighbor, Patricia George, now retired, said she used to ride MARTA every day to work.

“Everything right here in the area, got our stores, gas station, everything is just convenient. That’s what I love about it,” George said.

There are also plans to buy another adjoining piece of property to build a phase two and add another 36 units.

Construction on the first phase starts now and should last over a year. The apartments are expected to be open by the end of 2024.

IN OTHER NEWS: