Mayor Andre Dickens is moving to condemn five long-blighted properties on Atlanta's Westside, and his administration has asked City Council to hold a special-called meeting in the coming weeks to consider the resolutions that would start proceedings.
Four of the properties appear to be a quadplex and single-family homes in Vine City and English Avenue, the neighborhoods immediately west of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The fifth sits farther north in Brookview Heights and holds the remnants of a former gas station near the Bowen Homes redevelopment.
\"Blight is more than an abandoned building or neglected property,\" Dickens said in a statement. \"Blight affects quality of life, safety and economic opportunity of the families who live around it. Our administration is using every appropriate tool available to us to address properties that have remained distressed for far too long.\" The city frames the effort as part of a broader push on a problem concentrated in Westside and Southside neighborhoods, where vacant and deteriorating property depresses values, slows revitalization and adds load to city services.
Councilmember Byron Amos, who represents the area, said residents have raised these specific properties as concerns. \"We have an obligation to use the tools available to us responsibly and strategically when persistent blight threatens the stability and future of a community,\" he said, describing the action as a way to remove longstanding barriers to neighborhood revitalization.
Condemnation would let the city pursue acquisition, with any purchase based on an independently appraised fair market value. If eminent domain becomes necessary, the city would have to go through legal proceedings, according to the mayor's office.
This is the latest instrument the city has reached for. Council members approved a blight tax program in 2024 allowing the city to charge property owners up to 25 times more in city property taxes until they restore a property. Earlier this year, the council asked that the additional tax be applied to John Dewberry's long-vacant Campanile tower in Midtown — a reminder that the blight problem is not confined to the Westside.
Original reporting: Atlanta Business Chronicle (2026-08-19)
