Atlanta Beltline Inc. is ready to talk next steps for the revitalization of Murphy Crossing after negotiations with the development team broke down.
A stakeholder meeting to discuss Murphy Crossing, the 20-acre industrial site in southwest Atlanta adjacent to the Westside Trail, is set for Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 6:30 p.m. A community meeting will be held March 11. Click here to register.
The Beltline says it could break ground in 2026 on the long-planned redevelopment of Murphy Crossing even after two years of negotiations broke down with Culdesac Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, and Urban Oasis Development of Atlanta.
The Beltline, which owns the property, envisions the site becoming a catalyst for economic development for the area surrounded by the Adair Park, Oakland City, and Capital View neighborhoods. It is located near two MARTA stations and Mayor Andre Dickens wants to build another station at Murphy Crossing, linking heavy rail to the Beltline.
Culdesac and Urban Oasis Development were selected in 2024 to transform the shuttered, industrial property at 1050 Murphy Ave. into a mixed-use community with affordable housing, retail space, and a car-free living option. The team’s initial plans included roughly 800 residential units and more than 300,000 square feet of office, light industrial and retail uses.
Legislation to rezone Murphy Crossing to allow for a mixed-use development has been held up in the Atlanta City Council’s zoning committee since September 2024.
But costs soared, plans shrank, and development stalled, leading to the deal falling through, according to a Feb. 5 statement from Dennis Richards Jr., vice president of housing policy and development for the Beltline.
Caroline Lerner Perel, chief investment officer for Culdesac, said the Beltline did not tell the company about a Georgia Department of Transportation easement on the Murphy Crossing property. When the developer learned about the easement in August 2024, it put the company in a tight spot to secure financing and continue with its original plans, she said.
“It is not the intention of Culdesac to engage in an exchange of public statements regarding the Murphy Crossing Project. However, the Feb. 5 statement from Dennis Richards, Jr. fails to recognize that Culdesac and Atlanta Beltline Inc. entered into a contract in March 2024, and what Mr. Richards characterizes as ‘negotiations’ were all within the context of that contract,” Perel told Rough Draft in an email.
“Many of these ‘negotiations’ were to address the issues caused by ABI’s failure to disclose the easements that had been granted to the GDOT unbeknownst to Culdesac. While ABI has attempted to minimize the physical impact of those easements on the project, which are significant, ABI also fails to recognize the financial and legal implications of those easements,” she said. “Culdesac continues to reserve and does not waive any of its rights in this matter.”
GDOT needs the easement to begin repairs to what some call the Murphy Avenue or Lee Street Bridge that crosses over the Westside Trail. The bridge is located at the northern tip of the Murphy Crossing property.
The permanent and temporary portions of the GDOT easements affect less than 0.5% of the Murphy Crossing site, Richards said. That adds up to 0.1 acre, or about 4,300 square feet. The GDOT easement is necessary to perform repairs under the Murphy Crossing bridge as a matter of public safety, he added.
The easements includes both a permanent easement covering the guardrail area that extends over the Atlanta Beltline Westside Trail and a temporary construction easement that provides GDOT workers a temporary access point they can use to transport manpower and materials to the construction site to perform repairs under the Murphy Crossing bridge.
Only the small GDOT easement in the area around the guardrail will remain permanently, he said.
Richards also said it is standard practice in real estate for the seller to provide detailed information about the property being sold only after it is under contract.
“Furthermore, prior to a contract being signed, the Beltline has every right to operate its property in a confidential manner, which in this case involved granting GDOT an easement, in a small area in and around the bridge abutment, to perform much needed repairs under the Murphy Crossing bridge,” Richards said.
Once the property was under contract, the Beltline responded to Culdesac’s concerns by working with GDOT to limit the term of the construction work on Murphy Crossing to 2025, he said.
“Given Culdesac’s lack of progress, GDOT’s rights to perform construction work would have expired before Culdesac ever broke ground on the site,” Richards said. “Finally, if the GDOT easement was as impactful as alleged, Culdesac had the ability to immediately terminate its Purchase and Sale Agreement with the Beltline.”
This story has been updated to say the community meeting is for March 11 only. The March 10 date on the Atlanta Beltline calendar is an error. It has also been updated to include more information about the location of the easements.