Centennial Yards: Atlanta's $5B mega-project to revitalize Downtown area

ATLANTA - A $5-billion mega-project promises to bring hotels, entertainment and apartments to downtown Atlanta. Centennial Yards is part of a massive redevelopment of what’s commonly called the gulch. That’s the 50-acre stretch of land between the Five Points MARTA station and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The developer will not include below-market units in a new high-rise they’re building right now. CIM Group chose to pay a multi-million-dollar fee instead of setting aside any apartments for lower-income Atlantans.

Centennial Yards will feature a 304-unit high-rise apartment building called The Mitchell.

"Centennial Yards is connected to at least two MARTA stations within walking distance," said City Councilmember Jason Dozier (District-4). "I absolutely want to see affordable housing units in that development."

But the councilman won’t get that, at least not at The Mitchell. CIM Group has opted not to set aside any units for affordable housing.

"I think it’s an unfortunate decision," Dozier said.

CIM has agreed to reserve 20-percent of all residential units at Centennial Yards as affordable apartments, with 200 of those units needing to be built on site as part of a multi-billion-dollar incentive package. None of those units will be in The Mitchell. The developer cited real-estate market slowdowns for its decision.

Instead, CIM contributed $8.5-million to a fund to build affordable housing on the Westside.

"I’m hopeful that the in-lieu fee they’re paying is going to help make sure that other families, even if they’re not in the Centennial Yards development, can have an opportunity for affordable living in the city," Dozier said.

CIM would not speak on camera with FOX 5, but in a statement, the company said it made the decision "at a time when we observed a significant slowdown in real estate investment and development."

The company added that another property it developed, The Lofts at Centennial Yards South, had 25 affordable housing units available as of Spring 2022.

Matt Garbett, co-founder of advocacy group ThreadATL, said he wanted the city to hold the developer to its commitment to affordable housing at Centennial Yards.

"The city missed an opportunity," Garbett said. "They could’ve said, ‘You’re going to do in-lieu, but you still have to require, maybe not 20-percent affordable housing. You can do 10-percent.'"

Dozier says he wants to make sure city leaders hold developers more accountable to build affordable housing in the future.