Fuqua to Take Beltline Building into His Own Hands

Folks are getting a little antsy waiting for the Beltline's eastern flank to gear up with new construction. Apparently, when you have buckets of money to toss at stunted multi-use trails, you can take matters into your own hands. At least that seems to be the case as Fuqua Development plans to build a short length of the Atlanta Beltline trail near its Glenwood Place project.

A couple of years ago, Fuqua kicked up a ton of ill-will when it was rumored Wal-Mart would be the anchor tenant. Ground broke on Glenwood Place, which sits at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Bill Kennedy Way, back in April. Since then, the company has been in the process of finishing up its anchor retail space, which will officially be filled by a Kroger.

Now it seems they're looking to drum up some foot traffic. According to the Saporta Report, Fuqua plans to build a small portion of trail south of Interstate 20, extend Faith Avenue across Bill Kennedy Way and connect Faith Avenue to Chester Avenue. The space the trail will be built on is currently owned by a Delaware-based corporation and will be turned over to the city once the trail is complete.

There's still basically no news from Beltline officials about when development might start. The Request for Proposals was wrapped up months ago on the Eastside Trail extension and about a month after on the Southside Trail. The nonprofit has been in open procurement for both ever since. The Eastside Trail has to be completed in 18 months from the start of construction, but the next phase won't quite reach Memorial Drive, because the Beltline doesn't have the money for that last piece. It'll reportedly stop a few blocks short at Kirkwood Avenue, for the time being.

So this piece from Fuqua won't connect to much of anything for couple of years, most likely. But it's awful nice of him.

· Fuqua to build Atlanta BeltLine trail, connector road near Glenwood Place [Saprota]
· Eastside Trail Extension Builder Could be Picked Quite Soon [Curbed]
· Beltline Keeps Mum while Reviewing Extension Proposals [Curbed]
· Report: Glenwood Place Project to be Loaded with Chains [Curbed]