A pair of century-old warehouses overlooking the MARTA tracks south of downtown Atlanta are poised to become the next live-work-play hub along the Beltline.
The Beltline on Monday said it has finalized a partnership with Atlanta-based developer Urban Realty Partners to incorporate the historic Cut Rate Box Co. buildings along Murphy Avenue into a new mixed-use project. The development called Oakland Exchange has started construction and will include retrofitting the two historic warehouses into more than 100 loft apartments and commercial spaces.
The brick warehouses, both built in the early 1900s, have been the focus of potential redevelopment for years, but plans have yet to get off the ground. Backed by historic tax credits and additional city financing, the latest vision aims to leverage the site’s Beltline proximity to focus on affordable housing and small business spaces.
Credit: Courtesy of Urban Realty Partners
Credit: Courtesy of Urban Realty Partners
“These historic warehouses are in an area that is seeing a wave of reinvestment after years of disinvestment — and keeping people in the community with affordable retail and housing is one of our biggest priorities,” Mark Riley, managing partner of Urban Realty, said in a news release.
Located in Atlanta’s Oakland City neighborhood, the warehouses had a variety of uses before becoming a box warehouse in 1973. Cut Rate Box, which maintains a headquarters off Donnelly Avenue, eventually closed the buildings and positioned them for redevelopment in the late 2010s as the Beltline sparked unprecedented investment interest in the area.
Urban Realty Partners in 2019 unveiled a plan to convert the buildings into 115,000 square feet of creative office space, but the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic stymied that effort.
The latest iteration involves multiple development phases, including converting the existing warehouses into 126 loft apartments and 16,000 square feet of creative commercial space. It also includes building 3,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant spaces along the Oakland and Murphy Connector Trail, a 1.3-mile spur planned to connect to the Oakland City MARTA station.
“These are some of the coolest buildings yet to be revitalized in the city of Atlanta,” said Sean Donahue, development partner at Urban Realty. “The oversized warehouse windows and heavy timber construction will truly differentiate the homes and commercial spaces from anything else in the market.”
Credit: Courtesy of Urban Realty Partners
Credit: Courtesy of Urban Realty Partners
Invest Atlanta last April approved $3 million in Beltline tax allocation district funds to go toward the warehouses’ conversion. In exchange, the developer will preserve 60% of new housing units below market-rate rents and offer a 20% discount on commercial rents.
Clyde Higgs, president and CEO of the Beltline, said projects like Oakland Exchange further the city’s goal of creating or preserving 5,600 affordable housing units near the multiuse trail by 2030. He said the Beltline is 79% toward reaching that goal.
The 6-acre site is directly southwest of the Beltline’s planned — albeit troubled and delayed — Murphy Project crossing, one of the largest city-owned developments in the works along the 22-mile trail loop.
The Oakland Exchange site is planned to include two future phases of additional development at 1066 Murphy Ave. and 1135 Sylvan Rd. Both will likely be multifamily buildings.
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