A vacant 2.2-acre parcel along Memorial Drive in Reynoldstown, part of which has served as a homeless encampment in recent years, could soon become a 166-unit all-affordable apartment complex just five blocks from a popular BeltLine trail segment. Developer Gorman & Company is proposing a five-story, mixed-use infill building at 1119 Memorial Drive SE, near I-20 and Moreland Avenue, with every unit reserved for tenants earning between 30 and 70 percent of the area median income.
Gorman Development Project Manager Tyler Rufenacht presented the proposal to the Reynoldstown Civic Improvement League, according to Urbanize Atlanta. Rufenacht told the group that Gorman has extensive experience developing high-quality, well-designed housing in the Atlanta area, and the firm is now seeking a letter of support from the civic league as it pursues Invest Atlanta tax allocation district incentives. Records reviewed by the outlet show the site was sold to an LLC named for the address in September 2023 for $1.42 million, per Fulton County records.
What's Planned for the Site
The proposed building would include 103 one-bedroom units alongside larger apartments, with three-bedroom units renting for $2,144 per month at the 70 percent AMI tier and one-bedroom units starting at $663 per month. Amenities outlined in the proposal include a community room, a fitness center, a computer center, an outdoor hangout space, and a leasing office and amenity area spanning 2,400 square feet. A parking deck would provide one space per unit, and the project also includes a 1,250-square-foot commercial space fronting Memorial Drive.
The site sits near the Ralph David House, a supportive housing property that opened as transitional housing in 2025 south of the project site. That earlier conversion of a 1960s motel at 277 Moreland Avenue used $550,000 in BeltLine TAD funds to create 54 permanent supportive micro-units capped at 30 percent AMI for formerly unhoused residents, according to Invest Atlanta, and was redeveloped through a partnership involving Stryant Investments, Atlanta BeltLine Inc., and Atlanta Housing.
A $22 Million Incentives Request
Gorman's total incentives request comes to about $22 million, per Rufenacht, made up of $19 million in bonds and $3 million from Invest Atlanta's Eastside Tax Allocation District. That TAD was established in 2003 to support economic redevelopment and affordable housing along corridors like Memorial Drive through tax increment financing, which captures incremental property tax growth to fund local redevelopment grants and infrastructure, according to Invest Atlanta. Gorman also plans to apply to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs in September for competitive Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, which the state matches at 100 percent of federal allocations to secure 30-year affordability commitments.
Gorman hopes to break ground on the project in November 2027, with completion targeted for September 2029, per Rufenacht. Whether the Reynoldstown Civic Improvement League will issue its formal letter of support, and whether the DCA will award the tax credits in its competitive upcoming cycle, remain open questions as the proposal moves forward.
Gentrification Pressure Along Memorial Drive
The corridor has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Reynoldstown, founded in 1870 as one of Atlanta's first post-Civil War Black communities and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has seen average home values climb above $500,000 amid intense gentrification since the early 2000s, according to Atlanta Magazine. Memorial Drive itself has transitioned from an underutilized light-industrial strip into a major residential corridor over the last decade.
This wouldn't be the first affordable infill project on that stretch. Atlanta Housing closed financing in December 2021 on Madison Reynoldstown at 872 Memorial Drive, delivering 116 affordable units directly adjacent to the BeltLine Eastside Trail extension, per Atlanta Housing. The city has built or placed under construction more than 13,000 affordable units toward Mayor Andre Dickens' goal of 20,000 created or preserved units by 2030, a target the mayor has pursued through a multi-agency Housing Strike Force, according to WABE.
Gorman's Growing Atlanta Footprint
Gorman & Company opened its first Atlanta project in Westview and later opened an affordable housing project near MARTA's Hamilton E. Holmes station in 2024. The developer also has a proposal near the Mall West End redevelopment and plans to remake a historic church property downtown.
Elsewhere in the city, Gorman broke ground in June 2025 on Phase 1 of Folio House, an adaptive reuse of the historic 1947 Atlanta Constitution Building at 143 Alabama Street that is currently under construction and will add 50 affordable apartments and commercial space. Hoodline previously reported on a Gorman groundbreaking for a 60-unit transit-oriented project near the East Point MARTA station that broke ground in spring 2026. Hoodline also covered Gorman's work restoring the 1908 Black-owned bank building on Auburn Avenue and its $41.2 million proposal to convert the Trinity United Methodist Church campus downtown into a 15-story tower with 83 affordable apartments.
