Vacant for decades, revived Westside micro-apartments offer affordable rentals

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Atlanta leaders and investors on Monday unveiled 40 fully furnished affordable housing units rehabilitated from an apartment complex left vacant two decades ago.

Spread across three 1960s-era buildings in the Westside’s Hunter Hills neighborhood, the units at 12Hundred Studios range from just 225 to 250 square feet and rent for 60% of the area median income or less—or about $1,000 monthly.

At that size, the apartments, which feature fold-out Murphy beds, resemble hotel rooms. But that’s kind of the point: They’re intended for lower-income Atlantans and people experiencing homelessness who need a stepping stone before moving to their next home, the developers said at the Oct. 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A quarter of the apartments are earmarked for people currently or recently unhoused, and the other units are available to renters who rely on government-subsidized housing vouchers, according to Brian McCarthy, a principal at lead developer Tenth Street Ventures, which partnered with real estate investors Alexander Goshen and ARRC Capital Partners for the project. 

12Hundred Studios—named for its address on Mobile Street—came together entirely with private financing from the Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund and American South Fund Management, a private equity firm—a rarity in a city known for bankrolling developments with public money.

“I’m usually standing up here because we gave away some money,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating the project’s contribution to his campaign promise to build and preserve 20,000 affordable residences over eight years.

“Usually developers complain about high land costs and the increasing cost of materials and labor,” Dickens told Atlanta Civic Circle in a text after the event, adding that the  project shows the development team “truly has a mission to serve those in need.”

Tenth Street Ventures is working with Open Doors Atlanta and HomeFirst to provide some renters with supportive services and housing vouchers, McCarthy said. “Since we didn’t do any subsidies, we’re able to use whatever [rent voucher programs] we want.”

McCarthy said Tenth Street Ventures has more projects like this in its development pipeline across metro Atlanta. It plans to build a similar micro-unit development in Midtown soon.