Atlanta Housing Announces Financial Closing of Heritage Village at West Lake

The development project will produce 102 newly constructed AH-assisted affordable rental units

July 26, 2024

Atlanta Housing (AH) recently announced the financial closing of the more than $35 million Heritage Village at Westlake development that will add 102 new AH-assisted HomeFlex rental units to Atlanta’s affordable housing inventory upon completion. Heritage Village is Atlanta Housing’s first New Markets Tax Credit-financed development. The mixed-finance project is sponsored by Quest Community Development Organization, Inc. (“Quest”), costing approximately $35.7 million. After substantial rehabilitation work to the vacant building is complete, Heritage Village at West Lake will be a 100 percent affordable multifamily rental development serving households earning no more than 30% of the area median income, providing high-quality housing for low-income individuals and families, including a portion of units reserved for veterans, young adults aging out of the foster system, and people facing homelessness. The project will also include a community health clinic, while the remainder of the 6.8-acre property has potential to be developed as future phases.

Heritage Village at West Lake is on a 6.8-acre site at 239 West Lake Avenue in the City of Atlanta. Originally developed in 1951, the property operated as the Waluhaje Hotel and Apartment Complex, which served African American patrons and residents during the segregated Jim Crow era. The building also housed a large ballroom that hosted many top jazz musicians. In 1967, the site was sold and became the Atlanta Job Corps headquarters, which provided residential, educational, and vocational services and training until ceasing operations in 2017. In 2018, a joint venture between Columbia Residential and Quest acquired the site from the Job Corps.

"This site is steeped in Atlanta’s rich history of music, culture, and civil rights,” said Atlanta Housing President and Chief Executive Officer Terri M. Lee. “Atlanta Housing is proud to help revitalize and restore this property as a safe haven. Heritage Village at Westlake will be a catalyst to economic independence and a better quality of life for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.”

Heritage Village will be funded by various public and private resources obtained by Quest, including a more than $4.3 million loan from AH and approximately $9.8 million in net New Markets Tax Credit financing made available by multiple community development entities, including Truist Community Development, Atlanta Emerging Markets, Capital Impact Partners, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

Other public and private funding sources include loans and grants totaling approximately $25.6 million from Invest Atlanta, Westside Future Fund, Partners for Home, Together ATL, and Georgia Investment in Housing. As part of the closing, AH acquired a fee simple title to the 6.8-acre site for approximately $5 million and ground-leased it for 75 years to a non-profit affiliate of Quest.

Heritage Village at Westlake is the first financial closing of the nearly two dozen scheduled closings budgeted for Atlanta Housing’s 2025 fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2024. This project will join AH’s significant progress in the new fiscal year on key transformational projects, including the Civic Center, Englewood, and Bowen redevelopments.