Exclusive: In Old Fourth Ward, all-studio high-density ‘affordable housing’ planned

Jackson Street in Old Fourth Ward is known as one of the best spots to snag a picture of the Atlanta skyline, where the iconic view has even been immortalized in the The Walking Dead and captured in a gazillion Facebook selfies.

Now, the street is destined to be home to what architecture firm Sizemore Group is billing as “one of the first affordable high density housing projects” in Atlanta.

According to a statement and rendering sent to Curbed Atlanta by Bill de St. Aubin, CEO of Sizemore Group, and Deanna Murphy, a principal at the firm, plans call for a five-story block of “urban flats” to fill a site near King Memorial MARTA Station.

To keep the building affordable and maximize density, units would be limited to studios, with some as small as 440 square feet.

The idea is to downplay automobile ownership — think: minimum number of parking spaces allowed — in favor of bike parking. The parking deck would be tucked into a hill under the building and topped by outdoor amenities for residents.

Officials said the design will reflect the “new and improved” standards of the Neighborhood Planning Unit, with activated street-front uses and architectural articulation to break up the mass of the building.

Murphy and de St. Aubin hope the project will “add some welcome attainable housing for the urban renter amid a glut of expensive luxury apartments and townhomes on the eastside of Atlanta,” according to the statement.

The design team can’t release information regarding a schedule. We’ve reached out to the developer for more information and will post any updates about a timeline — and pricing — that come.

The project isn’t the only new, large-scale residential building being floated in the vicinity.

Late last year, news emerged of a tentative proposal for a condo and hotel to rise at Boulevard and Highland Avenue, just north of the Jackson Street bridge.

Sizemore Group

• Old Fourth Ward’s Boulevard could see new condo, hotel tower [Curbed]