City to invest $10 million in affordability at ‘Population Now’ high-rise

Council members passed the legislation as part of their consent agenda, without discussion.

To help achieve Mayor Andre Dickens’ goal of 20,000 new or preserved housing units by 2030, the ordinance authorizes the mayor’s office to partner with the development corporation, the nonprofit he created to ramp up housing production on public land.

This allows them to take out a $10 million, 24-month loan from Truist Bank. The loan has an option for a 12-month extension or conversion to an eight-year term loan.

Previously known as Darlington Apartments and built in 1951 as the first high-rise in Atlanta after World War II, the building once offered affordable apartments in the wealthy South Buckhead neighborhood.

Credit: Charles Pugh

Credit: Charles Pugh

CNN mogul Ted Turner created the clock in 1965, when he was a billboard executive, and placed the ticker over signage for the apartments.

Chatiqua Ellison, the mayor’s director of special projects for housing, said at a Community Development and Human Services Committee meeting on Nov. 25 that the loan would bridge a $10 million gap in funding and preserve the 623 units at the complex.

Ellison said that one-fifth of units would be “deeply affordable” with rents at 30% of AMI, or about $34,000 for a family of four under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development income limits.

Four-fifths of the units would be at 80% of the area median income, or about $91,000 for a family of four.

“This is a great opportunity that we don’t want to miss out on, given the housing crisis that we’re experiencing,” Ellison said.

Under an intergovernmental agreement, the city will make payments to the development corporation “to support the implementation of the Housing Strike Force in connection with the project, including the payment of principal and interest on the term loan,” the legislation states.

It said the city intends to pay off the loan using proceeds from the sale of city-owned property and then transfer those proceeds to the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The council adopted another ordinance transferring $2 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund — $500,000 of its fiscal year 2026 allocation, and $1.5 million of its fiscal year 2027 allocation. The money will go for consulting and professional services.

Last week, City Council members confirmed they would not move forward this year with legislation to extend the eight active Tax Allocation Districts under Mayor Dickens’ Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, an ambitious proposal to raise more than $5 billion over the lifetime of the extension.

Dozens of members of the public had lined up in opposition to passing the legislation this year. Some cheered after Community Development and Human Services Committee Chair Jason Winston clarified remarks from Dickens’ chief of staff, Courtney English.

English said the mayor’s office would wait until the newly-created oversight commission had done its work and delivered a report on the proposal next year.

“If you didn’t get the gist of the chief of staff’s comment, council will not be moving forward with any TAD legislation today or this year,” Winston said.

Credit: Cushman & Wakefield

Credit: Cushman & Wakefield