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MARTA Rail Station Zoning Proposal

By Bill Adams, MBA, CCIM, CRB, ALC

Earlier this year the City of Atlanta proposed a change in the zoning ordinance
affecting properties within the city limits near MARTA rail stations. The proposed
ordinance would change the single-family zoning districts with an R-4 and R-4A
designation along with the R-5 duplex zoning category located within a half mile
walk of a rail station to MR-MU.

This designation would allow the building of between four and 12 residential units
in the formally single family and duplex neighborhoods. The goal would be to
create more density near the rail stations along with more affordable housing
options. If one or two units are affordable, defined as accommodating a tenant
who earns 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), there would be a density bonus
that would allow one or two additional units. The proposal received pushback
from the communities near the stations.

The idea of transit-oriented development – or TOD – near rail stations makes all
the sense in the world. Living within walking distance of a MARTA rail station
would make it possible to live without an automobile — or at least eliminate one
car in a two-car household. Over the past decade, well over 1,000 apartment
units have been developed on land that was formally underutilized rail station
parking lots. There are at least five hundred or so more units in the planning or
construction stages.

The King Memorial MARTA rail station, located between Grant Park and the King
Historic District/Old 4 th Ward is a fitting example of an area with density around
the station and an example of the problems presented by the zoning proposal.
Within one half mile of the King Station there are about 3,000 new multifamily
units along with almost 600 multifamily units currently under construction. Also
within a half mile walk is the North Grant Park Historic District.

This part of Atlanta’s Grant Park neighborhood has a housing stock that consists
mostly of, restored, expensive single-family houses that date from the 1880’s. The
historic neighborhood is both on the federal National Register of Historic Places
and has a City of Atlanta Historic Zoning designation. Any new development in the
district, including changes in the size of an existing property, would have to be
approved by the city’s Urban Design Commission.

The MARTA rail line that serves the King Memorial Station opened in 1979. In the
late 1970s, the area around the station where the new 3,000 multifamily units
have been built consisted of two housing projects and numerous economically
obsolete commercial and industrial properties. The north Grant Park
neighborhood, within walking distance of the King station, consisted of mostly
inexpensive, dilapidated houses. The area was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places around 1980. North Grant Park became a City of Atlanta Historic
District in 2000.

The area around the King Memorial MARTA station is like the communities
around many of the other rail stations in the MARTA system — gentrified and
mostly single-family neighborhoods. One reason for the community pushback is
that the proposal was a “one size fits all.” A better approach would have been to
analyze the area around each station and develop a realistic proposal that would
be compatible with development opportunities within that half-mile radius.

Unfortunately, the proposal did not consider the changes that have occurred in
these communities since the 1970s. While the zoning proposal was well-
intentioned, it was about forty-plus years too late.

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About Us

• As a native Atlantan who grew up in a house built by my grandparents in 1902 across the street from Grant Park, I have always loved the City’s downtown and historic intown neighborhoods. I went to school from the first grade through graduate school in downtown Atlanta.

As a child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I witnessed and mourned the decline of those wonderful old “close-in” neighborhoods and their business districts. By the time I was in my early 20s in the late ’60s, I had gotten involved in early intown revitalization efforts in Grant Park under the auspices of a program known as “Model Cities.” After a tour of duty in the Army and Graduate Business School at Georgia State University, I joined the forerunner of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association in late 1974. In the early 1970s most intown neighborhoods were “redlined” by banks and neglected by the local government. The neighborhood revitalization movement in Atlanta was in its infancy. Banks refused to make real estate loans in these “high-risk” neighborhoods. The level of city services was poor and to make matters worse, the city had rezoned many of these neighborhoods from single-family to multifamily residential in the 1950s.

I became a neighborhood activist in Grant Park and, along with others, helped to bring about one of the largest “down zonings” in City history, converting the area back to single-family/duplex zoning from apartment zoning. I was also a community representative and later President of the local Neighborhood Housing Services program, which helped local lenders understand the housing market in the City’s neighborhoods and helped end their practice of not making loans in these communities. I later served as a neighborhood association and Neighborhood Planning Unit (NPU) Chair as well as a board member of the civic groups working to restore the Cyclorama in Grant Park and historic Oakland Cemetery.

All these experiences have had a profound effect on me and the company that I founded in 1979. I had a commercial real estate background but came to realize that strong neighborhoods are vital to a city’s quality of life and its commercial core. Adams Commercial’s approach to real estate has always reflected the values of neighborhood activism. Our transactions involve people, not just numbers. We are in the problem solving and information business. After more than 40 years of service, our goal is to complete our client’s purchase or investment while at the same time adding value to the community through that transaction.

I hope that you find our website to be a helpful tool whether you are planning to buy, sell or are trying to get a good feel for the state of the commercial real estate market in Atlanta. If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me at wtadams@adamscre.com. If you have an interest in commercial real estate, please visit our Adams Commercial Real Estate Website at adamscre.com.

Thanks,

Bill Adams, MBA, CCIM, ALC, CRB
President
ADAMS COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Atlanta, GA

Our Core Values: Success, Integrity, Wisdom, Dependability, Community

At Adams Commercial we define SUCCESS when our clients get up from their closing with a smile. To accomplish this,  we start by putting the needs of our clients first, which to us is the essence of INTEGRITY. We bring the collective WISDOM of our agents to every real estate deal … wisdom that comes only from the company’s years of business experience and expertise in intown markets. Whether it is showing up at the appointed time or making sure all details are noted and deadlines met, we believe DEPENDABILITY is also an essential ingredient of a successful real estate transaction. We believe that your successful purchase or sale adds value to COMMUNITY. And we are proud to play a role in building and sustaining a thriving community.

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