More Atlantans will soon call South Downtown their home. Newport, the German real estate investment firm that is redeveloping Historic Hotel Row and 222 Mitchell Street, announced Monday its first residential project which aims to create 650 apartments in the long-neglected part of the city. Within eyeshot of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, two high-rises are planned and will tower above their neighboring century-old buildings.
The apartments and half a dozen accompanying retail and restaurant spaces will transform two blocks of South Broad Street between Mitchell Street and MLK Jr. Drive, roughly a block southwest of the Five Points MARTA station and Underground Atlanta. Currently, the land houses parking lots and garages surrounded by several shuttered, graffiti-covered storefronts.
The two buildings will be 18 and 21 stories, respectively. The west building will consist of 300 units, while the east building will have 350 apartments. Both high-rises will include a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The redevelopment project also includes about 70,000 square feet of retail space, some of which will reuse renovated space in existing buildings.
Through a partnership with Invest Atlanta, Newport will reserve 70 units for tenants who make 80% of the area median income — $54,000 for an individual and $77,120 for a family of four. The project was designed by Studios Architecture, with Brasfield & Gorrie as general contractor. Newport filed a special administrative permit Sept. 15 and expects to break ground in 2023, with completion targeted for 2025.
Newport purchased dozens of century-old buildings and dilapidated blocks in South Downtown in 2016. More than four dozen historically protected buildings are being redeveloped into restaurants, retail, office and artist spaces as part of the first phase of the South Downtown redevelopment project. The company also owns four acres of surface parking lots it plans to fill with additional retail, office, multifamily and hospitality uses.
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution