Work is to begin this weekend on the first stretch of Atlanta's BeltLine project, two years after the massive redevelopment effort won approval from city, county and school officials.
Granted, it's a modest starting point: a 1.7 mile-long walking and biking trail in southwest Atlanta, a tiny portion of what is envisioned to be a more-than 30-mile path snaking through dozens of intown neighborhoods. Volunteers will begin clearing debris from the trail's route on Saturday; it likely will be several decades before the entire BeltLine is completed.
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| Ed MBrayer, the executive director of PATH shows a reporter around the area in Atlanta where the proposed BeltLine will be built. The BeltLine will combine greenspace, trails, transit, and new development along 22 miles of rail segments that encircle Atlanta. | ||
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But as a first step, the project holds symbolic importance, officials say.
"It's a very important beginning for us," said Tina Arbes, chief operating officer of BeltLine Inc. "It becomes a real demonstration of what the whole BeltLine project is all about."
The BeltLine is a $2.8 billion effort to turn largely abandoned freight railroad corridors that circle downtown Atlanta into a loop offering 33 miles of trails, 22 miles of transit, parks and new development.
Saturday's cleanup in southwest Atlanta promises to transform weedy patches, trash-strewn lots and kudzu-choked thickets into a linear park with manicured lawns, paved and lighted paths, and new trees planted by Trees Atlanta. Existing parks along the route will get spruced up as well.
Interest in the cleanup has been so strong, all volunteer slots for Saturday have been filled.
The path will wind through the West End and Westview neighborhoods. Construction is expected to begin early next year and last about eight months.
Westview resident Scott Smith said he hopes the new trail helps revitalize his neighborhood, which has been hit hard by foreclosures.
"It should mark a significant turnaround for the community's development," said Smith, who plans to take part in the cleanup, "It will get rid of the kudzu and stop the illegal dumping ... and get more people interested in looking at the community."
The project is significant in that it's the first part of the BeltLine that people will be able to see and use, said Ed McBrayer, executive director of the nonprofit PATH Foundation, which is working with BeltLine Inc. and overseeing the development of the southwest Atlanta trail.
Much of the work on the BeltLine up to this point has taken place behind the scenes, as officials worked to secure land for future parks, obtain right of way, and begin the extensive planning process that will determine what the finished product will look and feel like.
That's led some people to wonder whether the BeltLine was happening at all, McBrayer said.
The trail "will give credibility to the BeltLine," he said. "This will make it real. All of this work isn't just a pipe dream."
BeltLine's progress also has been hampered because the project's primary source of funds — a special property tax district — has been challenged by a Buckhead lawyer. The case remains tied up in court.
Plans call for much of the BeltLine's price tag to be covered by any incremental increases in city, county and school property taxes in the tax district, which includes property surrounding the BeltLine corridor.
The lawyer, John Woodham, says the state constitution forbids school taxes to be spent on anything other than education. A Fulton County judge disagreed, but Woodham has appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The trail portion to be started Saturday is not affected by the funding dispute because it is to be paid for by grants. It follows an abandoned railroad trench that runs between I-20 on the north and Rose Circle Park on the south. Much of the trail runs along White Street, where one lane will be taken from the lightly traveled corridor to make room for the path, McBrayer said.
For now, the trail will terminate in a heavily wooded patch behind Brown Middle School. An adjacent dead-end road is covered with weeds and littered with empty potato chip bags and soft drink bottles.
"This will be one of the biggest transformations right here," McBrayer said as he stood in the garbage-strewn lot. "This is just begging to be a park."
The 1.7-mile stretch is the first out of the gate for the BeltLine because the PATH Foundation has been working for years to build a trail in the area. It has obtained a federal grant that will pay for about half of the project and has applied for a grant from a local foundation to cover the remaining cost.
The Lane Company plans to build 342 apartments and 57 townhomes in Grant Park near the proposed Beltline.
Plans include an 8-acre park, with a dog park, volleyball courts and a garden, and a parking deck for more than 500 vehicles.
The as-yet unnamed $75 million development will be on 18 acres fronting Confederate Avenue, between Avondale and Lester avenues.
"If you go down there and drive around, you'll see it has turned," said Edward Monarchik, Lane development partner, about the transitional neighborhood. "It has made that turn to the upside."
He said Grant Park has few apartments similar to what Lane plans. The complex will have a pool, and rents will start around $1,200 a month.
The new park will front Confederate, just east of the Beltline rail tracks. The Beltline is a proposed 22-mile transit loop on active and abandoned rail lines that would create a lot more green space in the city.
The two four-story apartment buildings will go up behind the park, concealing most of the parking deck. The townhomes will be built to the rear of the property.
Construction is expected to begin by January. The townhomes will get underway after the apartments have begun. The first apartment units should be available in the spring of 2009. The entire project could be wrapped up in 2010.
Homes sales have been in a slump, but Monarchik said "historically in that area, the townhome market has done rather well."
Lane Company built several apartment buildings at Atlantic Station, as well as element, a condo project.
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