Atlanta Downtown West

Demolition of a Portion of Morris Brown’s Campus Underway for New $20 Million YMCA in Vine City

/ Alexander Chenault / Leave a comment

Demolition is underway in the northwestern most section of the historic Morris Brown College campus. The former Jordan Hall, which sits at the corner of MLK Drive and Maple St and was once home to the College’s gymnasium, is being transformed into the new $20 million home of the YMCA of Metro Atlanta.

 

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Last year, the YMCA purchased the property from the City of Atlanta. Morris Brown sold off much of its assets to satisfy a multi-million dollar debt and Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The school has since emerged from that phase and is on the path to recovery.

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Once completed, the building will also house the Leadership and Learning Center which will offer early learning opportunities to about 70 Vine City youth.

The building is being only partially demolished after residents, community leaders, and curators of black culture pushed for the preservation of the historic structure. It began as the Edmund Asa Ware Elementary School, one of the first schools in the city to educate African-American students.

The YMCA hopes to move into its new building by the summer of 2018.

Loft office, Artist studios, Coffee shop, & Affordable Housing Slated for Adair Park

/ Alexander Chenault / Leave a comment

Adair Park is the latest Downtown West neighborhood to receive some much needed economic development and housing. After years of fighting with Atlanta Public Schools over control of an abandoned schoolhouse in Adair Park, the century old building will be renovated and become The Academy Lofts.

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The Academy Lofts are slated for completion in early 2019.

According to Curbed Atlanta, in addition to 5,000 square feet of loft offices for small businesses, artist studios and a 1,300-square-foot coffee shop, the historic redevelopment project will create 35 “micro-units” of affordable “art-force” housing (reserved for artists)—and is utilizing a $1.5-million grant from Invest Atlanta as part of the Housing Opportunity Bond Program—in order to maintain affordability into the future. Funding will also come through historic tax credits.

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Slated for completion in early 2019, the project is using local developers, Stryant Investments and Building Insights who have partnered with arts nonprofit The Creatives Project to bring new life to the school, which has been abandoned for nearly 45 years. The auditorium will be converted into an art gallery and community events space.

Neda Abghari, executive director of the Creatives Project, said the concept is the first of its kind in the City of Atlanta. Read more and see renderings …