Invest Atlanta OKs financing for downtown apartment tower

June 16,2017

Source: Dave Williams, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Atlanta's economic development agency Thursday approved using up to $9 million in tax dollars to help finance construction of a $90.5 million residential tower downtown.

The 14-story, 302-unit apartment building will be located above an existing parking garage at 161 Peachtree Center Ave., adjacent to Peachtree Center and close to the Peachtree Center MARTA station.

Invest Atlanta's Board of Directors passed a resolution to use funds generated by the Eastside Tax Allocation District to help Banyan Street Capital LLC build the project, which will create 150 construction jobs. Banyan Street, the owner of Peachtree Center, plans to partner with Greystar, a national multifamily developer and property manager.

Board member Julian Bene, who opposed the resolution, questioned whether the city can continue to afford spending such large amounts of taxpayer money to incentivize such projects.

"We can't do a $10,000 per-year per-unit subsidy and achieve much more than a token effort," he said. "The economics don't work."

But Mayor Kasim Reed said the developer's commitment to build 60 units of affordable housing, 20 percent of the total project, makes the deal worthwhile for a city that is rapidly losing affordable housing.

"If all the [residential] construction projects we have coming on line have 20 percent affordability ... we'll really be changing people's lives," he said.

Construction is due to begin in January, with completion of the project expected in late 2019.