$24M upgrade of Sweet Auburn apartment tower has launched

A 14-story tower in the Sweet Auburn corridor with direct access to the Atlanta Streetcar is about to see new life—and more affordable housing and retail could sprout beside it.

Just east of downtown, the Wheat Street Towers are undergoing a multi-phase, $24-million renovation following recent approvals from Invest Atlanta and HUD, the Atlanta Daily World reports.

The tower—which stands sentry over historic Wheat Street Baptist Church, with what one official described as “postcard picturesque” views of Atlanta—is the nation’s first federally funded, church-sponsored affordable senior high-rise, the newspaper reports.

Phase I will see all 210 units transformed in the senior-living tower into “state-of-the-art” rentals, for which Invest Atlanta is chipping in $12.5 million.

Construction has begun, and work is expected to finish in the fall of 2018.

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Meanwhile, plans for the second phase include “the development of additional market rate and affordable housing as well as exploring various retail entrepreneurial opportunities,” officials told the newspaper.

The project is being led by Wheat Street Charitable Foundation, the largest nonprofit landowner in the Auburn Avenue Historic District.

The group has amassed several acres in the area, and they sound eager to capitalize on an economic uptick led by Georgia State University redevelopment and local businesses that have found success near Sweet Auburn.

• Wheat Street Baptist, Nation’s First Church-Based Senior High Rise Gets Green Light for $24M Renovation Project [Atlanta Daily World]