A new residential tower at Centennial Yards, the mini-city being built within downtown Atlanta's Gulch, will not feature any apartments set aside at rents affordable to lower income residents — and the developer will instead pay a fee to the city of nearly $8.5 million.
Centennial Yards Co., a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based developer CIM Group, opted to pay Atlanta an "in-lieu fee" rather than reserve any apartments at rents below market rate at its 19-story, 304-unit tower called the Mitchell. The high-rise, which is expected to open next year, is the first new tower erected as part of the $5 billion redevelopment of the Gulch, a 50-acre expanse of parking lots and rail lines between the Five Points MARTA Station and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
One of the incentive package's conditions required Centennial Yards Co. to reserve 20% of all new residential units built in the project at subsidized rents. The developer, however, could opt to pay an in-lieu fee — roughly $140,000 per unit in the Mitchell's case — to forgo that requirement. Atlanta leaders in 2018 approved an incentive package of up to $1.9 billion — the largest in city history — to support the project.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Centennial Yards Co. said it remains in compliance with its development agreement with the city and plans to add new affordable units at future towers. Centennial Yards will include a mix of apartments, hotels, retail, entertainment concepts and future office space, with the entire project potentially including up to 3,000 units — triple the district's initial plan — which would require 600 affordable units or an equivalent in-lieu fee.
ThreadATL, a nonprofit group that advocates for urbanist policies in Atlanta, questioned whether Centennial Yards is setting a concerning precedent. "Being near multiple train stations and bus lines, plus good sidewalks, the Gulch is a place where affordability and transit could be well matched. If the residential component is nothing but luxury housing, that's a missed opportunity," the group posted on X. The fee paid by the developer goes into a city fund to prepare foreclosed Westside properties for affordable housing redevelopment.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution