Multifaceted Reynoldstown project launches, aiming to buck tradition

As townhome and commercial hybrid, Mattie Branch concept claims vacant lot between Moreland, Beltline

By Josh Green@JoshGreen1234 Jan 31, 2018, 8:05am EST

An aerial of the project from Flat Shoals and Wilbur avenues. — An aerial rendering of the project from Flat Shoals and Wilbur avenues.

Marketed as a departure from Atlanta’s more standard townhome developments, a multifaceted project called Mattie Branch is claiming a vacant lot in a southern pocket of Reynoldstown.

Tucked between Moreland Avenue and the Beltline’s newest Eastside Trail segment, Mattie Branch is bringing 11 townhomes and 14 studios with light commercial components to Flat Shoals Avenue.

It was designed and is being built by Atlanta’s Abode firm, which scored Atlanta Urban Design Commission awards last year (categories: infill and sustainability) for Rtown Lane down the street.

Five of the 11 townhomes are spoken for, though construction has yet to go vertical.

The studios, meanwhile, will be for rent, with potential uses that could run the gamut from artist, maker, nonprofit, profession, or small specialty retail purposes, said Christopher Leerssen, Abode’s president and owner.

“I’ll be the landlord so I’ll keep a careful and close watch on it,” Leerssen, a 16-year Reynoldstown resident, wrote in an email to Curbed Atlanta. “I will also be offering a few of the rental units as affordable--completely by my own volition.”

Remaining townhomes (units two to five and seven in the graphic at right) cost $550,000 for roughly 2,000 square feet. They’ll be offered in three different interior packages—“Full Modern,” “Midcentury,” or “Farmhouse Modern”—with siding made from trees felled on the site and steel porches forged by Reynoldstown’s own Stein Steel.

Leerssen said the mixed-use component should be almost 100 percent solar powered, and townhomes with solar upgrades could be nearly net-zero.

Completion is scheduled for late fall, officials said.

Marketing materials point to nearby attractions from Home Grown to forthcoming Atlanta Dairies and MARTA’s Inman Park/Reynoldstown station, which is apparently an eight-minute stroll away.

An added perk is the planned Beltline link—The Trolley Line Trail—expected to be built a few feet from here in coming years, providing a PATH route that would extend to points east, including Edgewood, Kirkwood, and Decatur.

As for the project’s atypical name, the development team provided the following:

The Story of Mattie Branch Development is named for Mattie Faith (Martha Hamil Faith), aka Mother Faith, was a leader in Reynoldstown and East Atlanta in her day, leading various civic boards as well as being a longtime PTSA volunteer. Her husband was [an Atlanta] City Councilman, and it was his father [who] donated land for Faith Elementary ... which was later renamed Hubert.

The nearby Hubert building on Memorial Drive is where the WonderRoot Center for Arts & Social Change is planned.

Elsewhere on Reynoldstown’s ever-changing semi-detached front, two contemporary duplexes called R. Town Stacks are under construction across the street from Mattie Branch.

And down the street, the more traditional Reynoldstown Row is gunning for a sellout, with prices starting in the $500,000s.