Atlanta residents have reached a breaking point as housing costs continue to rise. Last week, hundreds of people picketed and marched around City Hall, protesting the substantially high costs of homes and apartments, with much anger stemming from development along the Beltline.
Residents believe that the Beltline has “displaced a ton of people” and failed to live up to promises, said housing advocate Karmiah Dillard in a statement. Besides voicing their opinions on the Beltline problems, protestors also showed up with banners advocating for unity and basic human rights.
This isn’t the first time Atlanta residents have criticized the community’s issues. Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd is just one person who has spoken openly about issues deriving from redevelopment plans for the Turner Field area, which ended in a resident-led tent city in 2017. Residents were surprised to learn from developers that this very well may have been a publicity stunt.
In other real estate news:
- With the location of Amazon HQ2 soon to be revealed, GeekWire asked its readers which one of Amazon’s 20 finalist cities they would prefer living in, and Atlanta came in at No. 2, just behind Raleigh, North Carolina. Forbes chimed in on the results, suggesting that Atlanta is much more suited to be home to HQ2 than Raleigh. “From a housing affordability and availability standpoint, there’s no question that Atlanta is a more attractive option for the new Amazon headquarters,” Sean Black, co-founder and CEO of Knock.com, told Forbes.
- Two Water Capital Management is purchasing The Parc at 1875 in College Park at over $85,000 per unit, as a wave of new investment activity surges the area. Sage Equities and M. Banks Realty Partners sold the complex after a three-year stint as its owners. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale. “After selling the asset to our client in 2015, we witnessed a transformation of the property that resulted in record pricing for the submarket,” Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Director Tyler Averitt said in a release. “The new owner is primed for continued long-term growth through the completion of the proven value-add initiative.” Sold three years ago, this complex is located in one of the many southwestern suburbs of Atlanta in high demand right now.
- Taylor Morrison Home Corporation gathered some of the top-performing agents together in Atlanta for a three-day summit, which ran from July 23-25 at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta. The event featured a keynote address from Taylor Morrison chair and CEO Sheryl Palmer, as well as roundtable discussions, performance awards and the sharing of professional opinions and insight. “This is an opportunity for some of the country’s top real estate agents to come together and learn from one another and, in the process, help us better understand what their customers are looking for in 2018 and beyond,” said Graham Hughes, chief customer officer for Taylor Morrison. “We’ve seen quite a few positive responses from the real estate community already and we’re looking forward to sharing and learning from them.”