Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development authority, has announced that Columbia Ventures will serve as the developer for five acres located next to MARTA’s Edgewood/Candler Park rail station. The property is currently used for parking.

The first phase, expected to break ground next year, will include more 200 units of market rate housing and will be built with minimal disruption to existing MARTA operations. The second phase is expected to include an additional 235 units. One of the phases will include commercial opportunities and the full project is expected to be completed by 2019.

Invest Atlanta joins MARTA in support of its ongoing Transit Oriented Development efforts and will serve as the lease guarantor on the project. Invest Atlanta also worked to ensure that the developer’s vision for the property aligned with existing community planning work.

“This project needed a developer with a vested interest in our neighborhood, and we can check that box with the selection of Columbia Ventures,” said Garry Long, president of Organized Neighbors of Edgewood. “Redevelopment of Edgewood has been quietly happening over the last decade and this project is the capstone to many of these efforts.”

Columbia Ventures’ experience with the Edgewood neighborhood spans a decade and includes development of more than 400 housing units across the community including senior housing, market rate housing, affordable housing and for-sale townhomes.