Spelman College cleared a hurdle Tuesday to finance its first new residence hall in nearly two decades.
The historically Black college received approval from a Fulton County board to access federal bond financing to build a new 670-bed dorm. The project is part of an effort to house more students on its Atlanta campus and phase out aging residence halls that lack air conditioning.
“This is our first new residential hall in several years,” Dawn Alston, vice president for business and financial affairs at Spelman College, told the Development Authority of Fulton County board Tuesday. “It will be updated, modernized and will really speak to the student experience on Spelman’s campus.”
Spelman, one of the historically Black colleges and universities that comprise the Atlanta University Center Consortium in the city’s West End neighborhood, will have access to up to $140 million in bond financing to build the dorm. The bonds will be underwritten by Raymond James & Associates and are federally tax-exempt with no impact on local property taxes.
To construct the residence hall, Spelman will demolish Howard-Harreld Hall and Dorothy Shepard Manley Hall, both of which were built in the 1960s. Alston said both dorms are “frankly not worth renovating, and they are un-air-conditioned.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The project will add 320 new beds to Spelman’s campus, which currently offers about 1,400 beds for students. Alston said the new beds will allow roughly two-thirds of the student body to live on campus.
“We have a goal of trying to house about 85% of our students on our campus or within a one-mile radius of the institution,” she said.
Renderings of the new dorm were not immediately available, but the building is expected to encompass roughly 230,000 square feet.
Southside housing
The development authority, which also goes by DAFC or Develop Fulton, also approved Tuesday a tax break for a mixed-use project south of Atlanta.
The board unanimously approved $2.2 million in tax savings over a decade for Atlanta-based developer Vida Cos. to build Verona in Fairburn. The project will include roughly 280 apartments and about 7,000 square feet of commercial space near Landrum and Senoia roads.
Credit: Courtesy of Vida Cos.
Credit: Courtesy of Vida Cos.
Founded in 2021, Vida is an upstart multifamily and build-to-rent developer with four projects across metro Atlanta, including Verona. The company’s niche is providing workforce housing with monthly rents between 80% and 120% of the area median income, Vida President and founder Joe Martinez told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We’re going out to areas where we think there’s need for more attainable-type product,” he said. “We look at the Southside as an area that’s continuing to grow and develop economically.”
The tax break does not formally restrict rents at Verona, but Martinez said the financial savings are needed to deliver a quality project at its rent targets while pleasing Vida’s financial backers.
“This abatement helps us to make that investment attractive for (Vida’s investors) while also being able to deliver the housing at a price point and a monthly rent check that serves the need of the community,” he said.
Credit: Courtesy of Vida Cos.
Credit: Courtesy of Vida Cos.
Roughly half of Verona’s apartments will be one-bedroom units. The rest are split among 128 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom apartments. On-site amenities will include a swimming pool, fitness center, coworking lounge and clubhouse.
The commercial space will be designed for 5,000 square feet of retail or restaurant space in addition to a 1,000-square-foot coffee shop. DAFC estimates the project will generate $5.8 million in new property tax revenue during the 10-year abatement period.
Martinez said he aims to break ground on the project by the end of the year and finish construction by mid-2027.
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