Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., North American Properties, and The Conservation Fund Partner to Revitalize Historic Decatur Belt Railway Site with $80 Million in New Development that Includes Affordable Workforce Housing

The walkable development calls for a mix of residential, loft office, restaurant, and retail plus affordable housing

On March 7, 2017, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) and North American Properties (NAP) completed a sale of nearly two acres on the Eastside Trail at 670 DeKalb Avenue. ABI, with assistance from The Conservation Fund (the Fund) and the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, purchased the land adjacent to the railroad corridor two years ago in the interest of protecting the alignment of the Atlanta BeltLine, remediating a brownfield site, and constructing a mixed-use development with affordable workforce housing.

Plans for the $80 million walkable development call for a mix of residential, loft office, restaurant, and retail. Twenty percent of the housing units built on the land controlled by ABI will be allocated towards affordable workforce housing.

Formerly owned by Aramark, the site was most recently used as an industrial laundry facility. Once purchased by ABI, brownfield remediation work began on the site – one of the few remaining blighted brownfield properties on the historic Decatur Belt Railway. The site represents a location on the Atlanta BeltLine where the former railroad lines that comprise the future 22-mile Atlanta BeltLine loop did not historically connect. The formerly separated neighborhoods of Old Fourth Ward and Inman Park will be reunited with the build out of the Eastside Trail and through new development.

“We are thankful to our partners and neighbors for helping us make this extraordinary public private partnership possible,” said Paul Morris, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. “Through it we are able to bring a key segment of the Eastside Trail to life by uniting two historically divided railroads, restoring and rehabilitating a contaminated industrial site, and realizing the promise of enhanced mobility, new jobs, recreation, and enhanced affordability for all.”

“This project will transform an environmentally contaminated site along the Atlanta BeltLine into a vibrant mixed-use gathering place that will enhance the trail’s safety and street level energy,” said Richard Munger, Partner at NAP. “As with all our projects, we engaged and collaborated closely with the local community to deliver a quality mixed-use experience for all to enjoy. We thank the community for its support and patience as we work with ABI to remediate the Brownfield site.”

During NAP’s construction and ABI’s completion of brownfield remediation work, the portion of the Eastside Trail between Edgewood Avenue and DeKalb Avenue will be rerouted around the construction zone. Ultimately, this will lead to a safer pedestrian experience for trail users and, in the interim, is approximately the same travel distance to detour around the construction site. When the Eastside Trail Extension opens in the summer of 2017, trail users will be directed up to the Edgewood Avenue bridge and Krog Street.

As part of the rezoning process, NAP met with adjacent property owners, NPU’s M and N, and the Inman Park Neighborhood Association. NAP worked closely with these neighbors and organizations to carefully curate a unique neighborhood and guest experience. A complete list of public meetings may be viewed here.

This project would not have been possible without ABI’s partnership with The Conservation Fund. The Fund loaned ABI nearly $2.5 million to purchase the property in 2015. ABI and the Fund continue to look at similar partnership opportunities throughout the Atlanta BeltLine corridor.

About Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.

The Atlanta BeltLine is the most comprehensive transportation and economic development effort ever undertaken in the City of Atlanta and among the largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment programs currently underway in the United States. The Atlanta BeltLine is a sustainable redevelopment project that will provide a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting many neighborhoods directly to each other. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) is the entity tasked with planning and executing the implementation of the Atlanta BeltLine in partnership with other public and private organizations, including City of Atlanta departments. For more information on the Atlanta BeltLine, please visit www.BeltLine.org.

Media Contacts:

Ericka Brown Davis, Communications & Media Relations Director: (404) 477-3660, edavis@atlbeltline.org

Jenny Odom, Communications & Media Relations Manager: (404)477-3659, jodom@atlbeltline.org

About North American Properties

Founded in 1954, North American Properties is a privately held, multi-regional real estate operating company that has acquired, developed and managed more than $5 billion of mixed-use, retail, multifamily and office properties across the United States. Headquartered in Cincinnati, with offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Fort Myers, Florida, the company has developed 19 million square feet of retail and 17,000 apartment units in 12 states. In the past three years, North American Properties has launched 36 projects totaling $1.1 billion in total capitalization. In Atlanta, North American Properties owns Avalon, Colony Square and Anthem on Ashley. For more information, please visit naproperties.com.

Media Contact: Liana Moran, Media Contact for North American Properties, 404-748-1367, lmoran@thewilbertgroup.com

About The Conservation Fund

At The Conservation Fund, we make conservation work for America. By creating solutions that make environmental and economic sense, we are redefining conservation to demonstrate its essential role in our future prosperity. Top-ranked for efficiency and effectiveness, we have worked in all 50 states since 1985 to protect more than 7.8 million acres of land. www.conservationfund.org

Media Contact: Ann Simonelli, Media Relations Director: 703-908-5809, asimonelli@conservationfund.org

About The Atlanta BeltLine Partnership

The Atlanta BeltLine Partnership was formed in 2005 to provide the collaborative platform from which to advance the Atlanta BeltLine project. The Partnership works with Atlanta BeltLine neighborhoods, businesses, community and faith organizations, and other groups to raise general awareness of, and broad-based support for, the Atlanta BeltLine. We enable the project by raising money from the private sector and philanthropic community, engage the public through programming, events and activities, and work to empower the residents of Atlanta BeltLine neighborhoods via partnerships that bring about positive outcomes in the areas of health, housing and economic opportunity. For more information, visit beltline.org.

Media Contact: John Becker, Communications Coordinator: 404-446-4409, john@atlblp.org