12th & James apartments will convert to affordable housing
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All 214 units will be used for affordable housing for more than two decades. Photo: Courtesy of JLL
More than 200 apartment units in northwest Atlanta will be converted into affordable housing options for current and future tenants.
Why it matters: Preserving or adding new affordable housing choices in the city helps residents find stable housing amid gentrification and high listing prices.
The latest: Atlantica Properties and EQ Housing Advisors have purchased the 12th & James Luxury Apartments through a public-private partnership.
- All 214 units at the complex, located on James Jackson Parkway in the Monroe Heights neighborhood, will be used for long-term affordable housing, according to a press release from both organizations.
What they're saying: Darion Dunn, co-founder of Atlantica Properties, said half the units will be affordable for families that earn up to 80% of the area median income, or around $73,120 for a two-person household.
- An agreement with the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation, the city's affordable housing development entity, calls for all units to remain affordable for at least 25 years, according to the release.
- "However, we are committed to ensuring that even the units not covered by this restriction remain naturally occurring affordable housing," Dunn said told Axios.
Zoom in: The deal will allow existing tenants to have their rents stabilized, Dunn said. He noted some new tenants who meet the income qualifications will "have access to deeply affordable rental rates."
- Some of those rates could be as low as $1,071 for a one-bedroom unit and $1,285 for a two-bedroom unit.
Flashback: 12th & James was built in 2002 using low-income housing tax credits and later converted into a market-rate development.
Context: The complex is located north of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, a planned segment of the Proctor Creek Greenway and Bowen Homes, which recently began a $63.6 million redevelopment.
Zoom out: Both Atlantica Properties and EQ Housing were among the public and private partners that broke ground earlier this month on Sylvan Hills II, 233 affordable housing apartments and townhomes built on the site of the former Sylvan Circle Apartments.
- This project will sit near a 184-unit affordable housing development for older residents that opened two years ago.
The big picture: Dunn said rental rates have been rising faster than wages in Atlanta, so it's important to not just increase housing inventory but also offer affordable options.
The bottom line: Marc Pollack, the president of EQ Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing investment firm, told Axios projects like 12th and James are important because they provide "a place for the local workforce to live."
- "It's a challenge if you work in the city in a service capacity, you can't live anywhere near that," he said.