Old Fourth Ward residents aim to thwart plans for luxury condo tower

Investment in the already vastly gentrified Old Fourth Ward shows no signs of slowing, but for a change, neighbors of yet another major residential development want to draw a line in the sand.

Old Fourth Ward residents recently learned about a proposal by Live Oak Realty Investments that aims to erect a 21-story luxury condo tower on a small lot—nestled between apartments and a single-family home—in the 600 block of Angier Avenue.

Thousands of new apartments have risen in the area during Atlanta’s post-recession boom, but an offering of for-sale condos is still relatively rare.

The development, which would neighbor Historic Fourth Ward Park, according to its rezoning application, would include 17 luxury condo units, each priced at $1 million.

Google Maps

Neighbors had no idea of the plans for the condo tower—which, if built, would be unusually tall, compared to the neighborhood’s other structures—until they noticed placards citing the developer’s rezoning intentions.

Calling it a “‘cigarette’ tower built on a postage stamp, just so millionaires can have a nice view,” some neighborhood activists have banded together to try to halt the project’s progress before it really gets moving.

Michelle Scheiner, a five-year Old Fourth Ward resident, is one neighbor leading that fight. She’s launched an online petition to lobby the Atlanta City Council and zoning review board to rethink the developer’s ambitions.

And, according to 11 Alive, Scheiner has been legging it door-to-door each day, collecting more signatures for the cause.

On her Action Network petition page, Scheiner posits the condo project would also “fail to provide value for the community” in the following ways:

• NO street-level retail
• NO office component
• NO community space
• NO affordability
• Traffic and congestion will be WORSE
• Trees will be CUT DOWN

Scheiner, in her online petition page, also noted that she and her neighbors are not anti-development; they merely want “development without displacement.”

Live Oak told 11 Alive in an email that its condo tower would not uproot anyone nearby from their homes.

A zoning review board meeting, during which this proposal will be discussed, is scheduled for July 10. Activists against the project are planning to host a rally in protest before the meeting kicks off, according to 11 Alive.

It’s worth noting the proposed condo tower could be merely the beginning of significant changes in the immediate area, as plans are in motion for a multi-building megaproject by developers New City across the street, on Georgia Power’s former site.

• Support O4W Neighbors for Development WITHOUT Displacement [The Action Network]
• Old Fourth Ward residents vow to fight million-dollar luxury condo project [11 Alive]