Asking $200K, this ‘marvelous vacant lot’ embodies Vine City price increases

For years, Atlanta city officials, private home remodelers, and leaders of organizations such as the Blank Foundation and Westside Future Fund have extolled the potential of Vine City, a historic neighborhood in the shadow of downtown that’s endured disinvestment, crippling blight, and even weather catastrophes in recent decades.

But few probably envisioned the day when a relatively small residential parcel—sans house—would command nearly $200,000 in Vine City.

Listed last week at $199,000 by Harry Norman Realtors, what’s described as a “marvelous vacant lot” may be an outlier for the area. But it’s emblematic of where prices are heading in communities at the cusp of downtown as amenities come to fruition and Atlanta’s housing squeeze continues.

Harry Norman Realtors

The Walnut Street property is less than one-third of an acre, or about 28 feet wide by 100 feet deep, per listings. It neighbors a small house of worship, Faithful Friends Baptist Church.

Property records list the church as owners of the for-sale lot next door.

For context, the land area is comparable (if a little smaller) than the Old Fourth Ward lot occupied by this 1,215-square-foot bungalow from the 1920s.

Southeastern Home Team

It’s positioned between Northside Drive and the 16-acre Rodney Cook Sr. Park project, which is coming together just a few yards to the north.

The $45-million park very much remains a construction site but is expected to start opening this summer.

Aspects will echo Historic Fourth Ward Park on the flipside of Atlanta, with two sports courts, a splash pad, and an 800-foot bridge over a pond that’s designed to capture 10 million gallons of water, solving flooding issues that have long bedeviled Vine City.

HDR renderings via Trust For Public Land

Beyond park and Mercedes-Benz Stadium proximity, the listing name-drops State Farm Arena, MARTA, the Beltline, and Walmart while nodding to nearby restaurants.

The address’s WalkScore of 68 registers as “Somewhat Walkable” now but stands to improve, as the park and Complete Streets infrastructure materializes.

Other vacant lots for sale in the neighborhood range from $90,000 to $950,000—the latter being a much larger property along Northside Drive, overlooking The Benz—but none is so close to the forthcoming park.