Hundreds of acres near the world’s busiest airport are up for sale, waiting for developers capable of delivering one of the Southside’s largest mixed-use projects.
College Park’s Business and Industrial Development Authority recently announced a partnership with real estate firm Stream Realty Partners to broker the 311-acre site, known as Six West, where the city envisions a $1.5 billion district filled with hotels, housing, offices and retail. The project — which is more than twice the acreage of Atlantic Station — has been in the works for years and aims to be a pivotal development south of I-20, an area better known for attracting warehouses than mixed-use projects.
Land near the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for years has been pitched for denser development, only some of which has come to fruition. The former Ford factory bordering the airport was transformed into a posh hotel and the headquarters of Porsche Cars North America. But given upheaval in commercial real estate since the pandemic, the Six West site comes to market amid a difficult lending environment.
Chris Dean, senior vice president with Stream, said the project’s potential should help it weather current economic headwinds that are challenging commercial real estate.
“The opportunity this project presents stands above other capital market conditions,” Dean told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That’s not to say it won’t be somewhat challenging, but I think we have a better opportunity than most here.”
The city spent years amassing the land, which is bound by Herschel Road, Camp Creek Parkway, Redwine Avenue and the College Park Historic District. The land was home to more than 3,000 people before they were displaced between the 1970s and mid-1990s to make way for Hartsfield-Jackson’s expansion.
The long-term project got its start in 2018 under a different name: Airport City. But it was renamed to Six West in honor of a half-dozen historic avenues in the area before the city of College Park formally broke ground on the site three years ago.
Since then, the city has been working to lay out infrastructure and complete entitlements needed for the larger development. That includes burying jet fuel lines, building a main boulevard and erecting a pedestrian bridge to connect Six West to Gateway Center Arena and the Georgia International Convention Center.
“All the utility work and roadwork really is kind of an unmatched opportunity,” Dean said. “The city wants this to happen.”
Credit: City of College Park
Credit: City of College Park
College Park chose Stream after issuing a request for proposals. Based in Dallas, Stream has operated an Atlanta office since 2009 and helped lease the popular Lee + White mixed-use project along the Beltline.
Architecture and planning firm Sizemore Group prepared a master plan that would split the site into five districts, incorporating more than 2 million square feet of office space, six hotels, nearly 500 housing units varying from apartments to townhomes, 760,000 square feet of retail space, multiple restaurants and a golf-related entertainment venue.
College Park Economic Development Director Michelle Alexander told real estate publication Bisnow that the city is under contract to sell one parcel to a hotel developer, a deal expected to close later this year. Dean said Sizemore’s plan would continue to guide the project, but market factors will likely influence the project.
At the end of June, metro Atlanta hit a new record for vacant and unwanted office space. Office projects have struggled to get financing since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rise in remote work.
Industrial space remains hot, especially around the airport. At the end of June, only 3% of warehouse space near the airport was vacant. Metro Atlanta’s overall industrial vacancy rate has held steady at 4.5%, which is a near-record low, according to real estate services firm CBRE.
The lending environment for multifamily residential and grocery-anchored retail is stronger than for office. Dean said he expects those planned aspects of Six West will get off the ground first. New residential options could also help College Park combat its shrinking population, which decreased nearly 1% between 2020 and 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
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