ATLANTA — The BeltLine will be holding a public meeting on Monday to get public reaction and input into the development of a parcel of land the BeltLine's operating group purchased earlier this year.
The development of the Westside portion of the BeltLine faces scrutiny, where a number of neighborhoods under intense gentrification pressures could be significantly changed in the coming years.
Atlanta BeltLine Inc., the operating group, has promised to use its purchase of 31 acres at 425 Chappell Road in Bankhead - the site of the former Chappell Forest Apartments - to build affordable housing within a short distance of the future Westside trail.
Already in Bankhead, developer Brock Built is constructing half million-dollar townhomes in a neighborhood where many homes are valued at far less. The BeltLine operating group purchased the Chappell Road site from Brock Built for about $25 million in May, what they said was a 30% reduction from its last appraisal in a "donation from the Brocks to further the goal of an affordable and inclusive Atlanta."
The purchase was strategically located just to the west of a planned segment of the Westside Trail portion of the BeltLine. It is also situated south of where Microsoft is planning to build a new campus in Grove Park. That neighborhood, adjacent to Bankhead, will also face gentrification pressures from the coming completion of the new Westside Park.
Developers also broke ground this month on Echo Street West, a massive mixed-use development in the English Avenue neighborhood to Bankhead's direct East.
The developments together promise major transformations to the corridor through which Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway runs on the Westside.
BeltLine, Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs vowed to "work alongside surrounding neighborhoods to ensure outcomes that benefit residents while furthering connectivity and economic impact within the City of Atlanta.”