Atlanta Housing (AH) leaders voted last week to move forward with the purchase and redevelopment of Summerhill’s tallest building, a 16-story former Ramada Plaza Hotel, and turn it into 231 affordable apartments for seniors.
AH’s board of commissioners approved a resolution during its July 25 meeting to seek the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) blessing to pay property owner Pellerin Real Estate up to $17.5 million for the 3.25-acre site, located at 450 Hank Aaron Drive, which is anchored by the so called “stadium hotel” with land for another building.
HUD is expected to approve the purchase application within 30 days, Alan Ferguson, AH’s chief housing and real estate officer, said before the vote. AH would subsequently issue a request for proposals from private developers in September. The housing authority’s board could select a development team in January, and the project will be underway “hopefully in advance of the FIFA [World Cup] activities.”
“This potential acquisition … provides a tremendous opportunity for us to gain a significant asset that can be responsive to the community in an area that’s undergoing tremendous transformation and change,” Ferguson said.
Once the hotel is converted into apartments, more housing could be constructed on the surrounding acreage, Ferguson explained during AH’s June 20 real estate committee meeting.
“This particular property has a parking deck which, we understand, was built and structured so that it could support a second tower to be built at some time,” he said, calling the option a “bonus opportunity.”
AH in January entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Pellerin — which punted on its own revamp plans due to financial constraints — but details about rental prices have not yet been finalized.
The Ramada Plaza Hotel site’s transformation promises much-needed affordable rental housing in a southside community that’s undergone astonishing growth — and seen housing costs spike — since Georgia State University and its development partner Carter & Associates bought dozens of acres around Turner Field in 2017 for a mixed-use overhaul.
John Helton, the president of the Organized Neighbors of Summerhill, lauded AH’s decision to buy and retrofit the 40-year-old hotel, which — apart from serving as an emergency homeless shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic — has long been little more than a blight on neighborhood’s landscape.
“This property is part of the gateway to our Summerhill neighborhood, and it’s been long neglected to the point of being an eyesore for several years,” he said in a text message. “We’re looking forward to working with the AH leadership to make its redevelopment a win-win asset for the community.”
When AH first began publicly discussing redevelopment plans for the hotel, it weighed whether the site should be reborn as senior housing or just conventional apartments. Helton told Atlanta Civic Circle in June that many neighbors found senior housing “more palatable.”
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