The city of Atlanta broke ground Thursday on a new independent senior affordable housing project offering 160 units for low-income people 62 years and older.
Located in the Chosewood Park neighborhood southeast of downtown, the Englewood Senior development’s first phase on 20 acres includes mixed-use and mixed-income housing in proximity to the Atlanta Beltline Southside Trail, Zoo Atlanta, and Grant Park. Once completed, the development will include 900 units with more than three-quarters of them set aside for people earning 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI), according to city officials.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mayor Andre Dickens stressed the importance of providing affordable housing to people already established in the neighborhood. Dickens has made housing a centerpiece of his first term.
“We’re breathing new life into the former Englewood public housing site,” Dickens said, adding that the $72 million senior development would include Energy Star appliances to keep utility bills down; a community vegetable garden; a business center with free Wi-Fi; and a fitness center.
“We need greater access to health care, but also affordable housing. And so these essential services around recreation and housing [are] going to make sure that our seasoned citizens get everything they need so they can flourish,” he said.
Atlanta Housing president and CEO Terri Lee hosted the ceremony with real estate developer The Benoit Group.
Eddy Benoit Jr., president and CEO of the company, said that the completed development would be over 30 acres and include space for grocery, retail and small businesses. The first phase of development would include 360 units of affordable housing for seniors and multifamily households.
According to Benoit, of the 160 senior units, 115 will be one-bedroom units of up to 700-square-foot for a little over $1000 a month. Forty-five 950-square-foot two-bedroom units are priced at about $1200 a month.
“There is nowhere in the city that you will find this type of housing at this price point,” he said.
Dr. Eloisa Klementich, president and CEO of Invest Atlanta, said that by some estimates the population of the Atlanta region was expected to grow to almost 8 million by 2050, and about 12% of that population would be seniors. She added that many people are severely cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on rent.
“We not only have to provide the senior housing that is needed but there has to be an affordable housing component. And what’s exciting is this project does both,” she said.
The public housing development Englewood Manor was built in the early 1970s, housing 324 families, according to Atlanta Housing. Residents of the public housing units were displaced in 2007 because of “severe physical and social distress,” officials said last year when they announced the financial closing of the first phase of the development.
In 2009, the property was razed, with the approval of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In April 2024, Atlanta Housing said funding for phase one had come from a federal and state equity tax credit investment from Raymond James and JP Morgan. In addition, the development received a Sterling Bank construction loan, permanent HUD-insured loan financing, Beltline Tax Allocation District Funds, and a loan from Atlanta Housing.
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