A cleared, nearly block-sized lot just north of Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park in English Avenue is set to become a 54-unit affordable housing village, with groundbreaking targeted for mid-to-late October. The project, now called The 404 @ Oliver Street, will mix standalone homes and smaller multifamily buildings offering one- to three-bedroom units, all priced for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income.
The development is being built by Westside Future Fund and was formerly known as Proctor Village, according to Urbanize Atlanta. Construction is expected to take roughly 18 months once it begins. The unit mix includes 30 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments ranging from 435 to 560 square feet, 12 two-bedroom, one-bathroom rentals between 752 and 891 square feet, and 12 three-bedroom, two-bathroom options spanning 986 to 1,036 square feet.
Eric Kronberg, founder of Kronberg Urbanists + Architects, which designed the project, says the site occupies about two-thirds of the block and will include six for-sale homes facing south over the park. Specific housing costs for those homes have not yet been specified, per the same account. The project marks the latest collaboration between Westside Future Fund and Kronberg's firm on the Westside, following a string of recent builds in the area.
Public Money Makes the Village Pencil Out
Financial viability for the site depends heavily on local public subsidies. On August 27, the Invest Atlanta Board of Directors approved $8.71 million in Tax Allocation District grant funding across seven developments, according to Invest Atlanta, including a $2.5 million Westside TAD Ascension Fund grant earmarked specifically for The 404 @ Oliver Street.
That same board meeting also approved a separate $1.5 million Westside TAD Ascension Fund grant for Westside Future Fund's Proctor Paines project, which will build 25 affordable units at 383 Paines Avenue, just one block from the park. The 404 @ Oliver Street is part of a broader, multi-project pipeline the nonprofit is managing along the Oliver Street and Paines Avenue corridors, which also includes the 120-unit North + Oliver development.
A Park Named for a Neighborhood Tragedy
Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park, which opened in 2019 and borders the new village site, is named in honor of the 92-year-old English Avenue resident who was killed in her home in 2006 during an illegal no-knock drug raid by Atlanta police officers who later falsified evidence, according to Wikipedia. Rodney Cook Sr. Park sits about five blocks east toward downtown in Vine City, per Urbanize Atlanta's reporting.
Land assembly along the corridor was aided by a $700,000 City of Atlanta Community Development Block Grant that funded demolition of blighted, unlivable apartment structures acquired by Westside Future Fund and partner OaksATL, according to Westside Future Fund. That same corridor is where the nonprofit secured $47 million in financing in March to build North + Oliver, a 120-unit affordable complex at North Avenue and Oliver Street that the organization calls the largest single new development in English Avenue in over a generation. Hoodline previously covered that project in Westside Win: $47M Greenlights North & Oliver.
Who Qualifies, and What Guides the Design
All 54 units at The 404 @ Oliver Street are designated affordable for tenants earning between 30 and 80 percent of area median income. Under federal HUD guidelines for the Atlanta metro area, the project serves households earning between 30 and 80 percent of area median income.
Westside Future Fund uses its Home on the Westside program to give housing application priority to legacy residents and people with historic live, work, or learn ties to English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights, and the Atlanta University Center, according to the nonprofit. The village design model for the site aligns with the Westside Land Use Framework Plan, which was created with input from more than 1,000 residents and unanimously adopted by the Atlanta City Council in December 2017 to guide equitable revitalization without displacement.
Part of a Larger Westside Push
Two other recent Westside Future Fund projects, 839 Boone Boulevard and 646 Echo Street, opened in English Avenue earlier this year as income-restricted developments, per Urbanize Atlanta. The nonprofit also broke ground in August on an 18-unit infill project in Vine City, across from John F. Kennedy Park and Hollis Innovation Academy — a project Hoodline detailed in Westside Future Fund's first ground-up build.
The nonprofit's Our Next Chapter capital campaign aims to raise $55 million in philanthropic support to leverage $45 million in private impact fund financing and $10 million in public grants, targeting 285 multifamily units and 225 single-family homes across its pipeline, according to Westside Future Fund. These projects also feed into Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' citywide goal of building or preserving 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030, a target that had reached more than 13,700 units completed or under construction by September, according to the City of Atlanta.
