Westside Future Fund Lands Financing for Atlanta Project

Atlanta’s Westside is gearing up for another shot of affordable housing.

Westside Future Fund secured $47 million in financing to move forward with North+Oliver, a 120-unit rental development in the historic English Avenue neighborhood, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The project will be built on roughly 4 acres at North Avenue and Oliver Street, replacing the long-blighted Oliver Street Apartments, which were demolished late last year.

The development will deliver a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units aimed at households earning between 30 percent and 70 percent of the area median income — equating to roughly $34,000 to $80,000 for a family of four based on federal guidelines, according to the publication. Of the total, 25 units will be reserved for lower-income renters through Atlanta Housing’s HomeFlex supportive housing subsidy.

In January, Westside Future Fund completed and opened two other English Avenue neighborhood developments that added a total of 57 units to the neighborhood at 839 Joseph East Boone Boulevard and 646 Echo Street. The North+Oliver project represents a rare large-scale investment in the area, according to a spokesperson for the nonprofit, adding that it would be the neighborhood’s largest affordable housing development in more than a generation.

Financing is anchored by tax-exempt bonds issued through Invest Atlanta’s Urban Residential Finance Authority and 4 percent low-income housing tax credits from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The capital stack also includes $4 million in gap funding from the Westside Tax Allocation District, a public tool aimed at catalyzing housing and economic development in long-neglected neighborhoods. Total financing amounts to $47 million for the apartments, according to the outlet.

Construction is expected to begin later this year, with completion targeted for 2028.

The project adds to a growing pipeline on Atlanta’s Westside, where a mix of public and philanthropic capital is driving redevelopment — and raising familiar questions about balancing revitalization with affordability, according to the publication.

Westside Future Fund said it plans to push forward more than $100 million in multifamily development across the area this year.

— Eric Weilbacher