Atlanta, Georgia – Eighteen apartments may sound like a small addition in a city the size of Atlanta. In Vine City, though, the location makes these homes especially significant: they are being built directly across from a school and two neighborhood parks.
The new development at 280 James P. Brawley is designed to give families, educators and other workers connected to the community a chance to live close to the places they serve every day.
Mayor Andre Dickens joined Westside Future Fund, Atlanta City Councilmember Byron Amos, Invest Atlanta and neighborhood partners Monday to break ground on the 18-unit affordable housing community. It marks Westside Future Fund’s first multifamily development in Vine City.
The apartments will be available to households earning between 30% and 80% of Area Median Income. The project will place particular focus on neighborhood families, educators and employees connected to nearby Hollis Innovation Academy and surrounding institutions.
Future residents will also have several community amenities within walking distance. Hollis Innovation Academy sits across from the development, along with Kennedy Park and Rodney Cook Sr. Park.
“This is what [safe, healthy, connected neighborhoods] means on the ground: affordable housing close to good schools, parks, jobs, and opportunity,” Dickens said at the groundbreaking.
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The address carries another connection to Atlanta’s education history. Dr. James P. Brawley, whose name is carried by the street, served as president of Clark College for 24 years and helped move the institution to the Atlanta University Center.
“On a street bearing his name, across from Hollis Innovation Academy, we’re celebrating future affordable homes with a focus on our families and the educators who shape our children’s futures,” Dickens said.
The Vine City project is also part of a wider effort to add housing without pushing longtime residents out as investment reaches Atlanta’s historic Westside. Vine City is included in the city’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, which directs resources and partnerships toward communities that have experienced years of underinvestment.
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Westside Future Fund has already added affordable housing nearby in English Avenue, including 57 homes at 839 Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and 646 Echo Street.
Citywide, the Dickens administration has set a goal of building or preserving 20,000 affordable homes by 2030. More than 14,000 are already completed, funded or moving through development.
For Vine City, the latest piece of that larger effort is now taking shape one block at a time.
“I look forward to coming back when these 18 families get their keys,” Dickens said.
