Fuqua’s Piedmont Park, Beltline project kicked to the curb... for now

Neighbors near 10th and Monroe had been protesting the development for months

By Sean Richard Keenan@ThatSeanKeenan Jul 9, 2018, 10:12am EDT

A photo of Piedmont Park in Atlanta. — A reasonable facsimile of what ground-level views would have been from Fuqua Development’s next intown build.

Piedmont Park’s eastern edge is set to be transformed in coming years, but it seems controversial real estate developer Jeff Fuqua won’t be playing a role in that change.

For months, neighbors of Piedmont Park in Midtown and Virginia-Highland have been up in arms about Fuqua Development’s mixed-use plans for a popular Beltline-adjacent intersection. Among other complaints, detractors have said the project is too vehicle-centric for an area already clogged with cars.

But as of late last week, the plans for Fuqua’s 10th Street and Monroe Drive project have been scrapped by Invest Atlanta—at least for now.

The development was slated to deliver some 350 apartments (almost a third of which would have been deemed affordable), a grocery store, restaurants and retail options, and a hotel.

Not so enticing on Fuqua’s now defunct to-do list: about 750 parking spaces, which some naysayers said was counterintuitive, what with the major multi-use trail next door.

On July 4, Beltline CEO Brian McGowan broke the news to Fuqua and company with a letter stating the agency and Invest Atlanta had together opted to kill the sale of some public acreage needed to move the project forward, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Beltline provided the AJC a vague statement explaining the move: “We have determined that the process itself is not yielding a result that we feel is appropriate for that site, and we plan to reevaluate at a later date.”

Fuqua, of course, is not thrilled. In December, Invest Atlanta’s board greenlit the sale of the roughly 1.5-acre parcel for $2.5 million.

In a statement sent to the paper, he said his development team has already made a substantial effort to advance the project.

“After an 18-month long [request for proposals] process, we were selected based on the vision, merit, and the affordable housing component of the proposal,” Fuqua’s statement read, according to the AJC. “We have been a great partner with the Beltline and have already devoted significant resources to the project.”

The developer also told the AJC, in so many words, that he could be summoning attorneys soon.

“I am currently evaluating our legal recourse as it relates to Invest Atlanta, the Beltline, and other responsible parties,” Fuqua’s statement said.

Fuqua in recent years has left a considerable impact on Atlanta’s built environment—from the finished Glenwood Place, to under-construction Decatur Crossing and Madison Yards—but the Piedmont Park venture could have been his most prominent intown creation.

Another high-profile Fuqua project, dubbed “Northside and 17th” at last check, is barreling forward near Atlantic Station. We swung through in recent days to gauge progress (or not) since a photo tour in September: