First look: Along the Beltline’s Southside Trail corridor, 320 more apartments are coming

Before a single linear foot of concrete is poured, the Atlanta Beltline’s Southside Trail corridor is again proving itself a magnet for large-scale development.

The latest project to move forward could claim about nine postindustrial acres where Peoplestown meets Chosewood Park, due south of downtown.

National developer Fairfield Residential closed on a property in recent weeks at 125 Milton Avenue where 320 apartments are planned, the company’s vice president of development, Marc Brambrut, tells Curbed Atlanta.

The venture is expected to break ground in the second quarter of 2020 and deliver the first phase about 18 months later, Brambrut says. A small commercial component is planned to overlook the Beltline corridor, though the design process is ongoing.

“We’ll be fronting the Beltline property, but the trail will be a little west, probably a 50-foot gap between,” says Brambrut.

Property records indicate the site was previously used as a truck terminal. Currently it’s the home of Underground Paintball at Power Ops (formerly Dosser Works Paintball), which operates an “urban combat playable space” with indoor and outdoor facilities.

Inquiries to business leaders about possible relocation plans haven’t been returned.

San Diego-based Fairfield has been active across ITP’s development scene in recent years.

The company most recently completed the Platform apartments on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near Oakland Cemetery, and before that, 1105 Town Brookhaven in Town Brookhaven. Elsewhere, a 240-unit mixed-use development project is now under construction in Tucker, according to Brambrut.

It could be years before the entire 4.5-mile Southside Trial is open, connecting Ormewood Park around to Adair Park. But Beltline officials have recently said the initial $16 million piece—stretching three-quarters of a mile through Capitol View and Pittsburgh—could be under construction later this year.

The full corridor has nonetheless seen a flurry of development—and property acquisition—lately.

That includes a pocket of farmhouse-style housing in Ormewood Park, the Beacon commercial hub in Grant Park, and the forthcoming Pittsburgh Yards in the neighborhood of the same name.

Elsewhere, plans are moving forward to expand the Beltline’s Boulevard Crossing Park, while property owners are fishing for big ideas at the Sawtell site and a large warehouse property in Chosewood Park.