On Friday, the Westside Future Fund announced their plans for a dilapidated, vacant 35 unit apartment complex in English Avenue.

395 James P. Brawley Dr. NW was acquired by the Westside Future Fund and will undergo a $2 million  renovation. It will provide affordable housing to legacy residents in the English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods. “We want to make sure that Atlanta continues to be a place that’s affordable to all, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced at a press conference in front of the complex.

Atlanta City Councilman at Large, Michael Julian Bond said, “there’s no better location, no better space to live here right now on the Westside.”

James P. Brawley Dr. is ground zero of revitalization; Last year, 6 new homes were constructed on Brawley and made available to police officers. Last month, Chick-fil-A opened a new restaurant just a stone’s throw from the new Walmart on MLK and Brawley Dr.

It was just a few years ago that Bill Torpy published an article in the AJC wherein he opined, that “If I belonged to the family of Dr. James P. Brawley, I’d ask the city of Atlanta to remove his name from the stretch of urban rot that bears it.”

Now it appears that the stretch is an example of how The Bluff is bouncing back one parcel at a time.

Rev. Howard Beckham, president of the English Avenue Neighborhood Association and a long-time resident, said he is seeing improvements in the community.

In addition to the 35 units of affordable housing underway, the Westside Future Fund has acquired another 15 single-family homes, which it intends to make available to community residents.

Councilmember Bond said this has been a longtime coming. “It is really great to see the positive transformation taking place in this community … one family at a time, one household at a time, and one community at a time.”