The purchase of a 0.2-acre piece of property in the Blandtown neighborhood is the final piece of the puzzle to complete the 22-mile Atlanta Beltline trail.
Officials announced Thursday that after two decades of assembling land and property rights across Atlanta, the final five miles of the trail can now be built out. Nearly 17 miles of the trail are complete, with total completion on track for 2030.
Beltline officials said the effort required nearly 200 closings totaling more than $200 million in property purchases across more than 270 acres, with individual acquisitions ranging from a 15-square-foot parcel to a 65-acre tract.
In a statement, Beltline President and CEO Clyde Higgs called the Blandtown purchase a “defining milestone.”
Dave Pierce, Vice President of Real Estate and Asset Management at Atlanta Beltline, Inc., said the $550,000 purchase of the private Blandtown property on English Street was temporarily held up in probate, but the estate allowed the Beltline to begin work on the site.
Pierce said the 200 closings across the past two decades ranged from 15 square feet to 65 acres, with the Beltline team negotiating with nearly every type of landowner – from railroads, utilities and Fortune 500 corporations to homeowners, apartment complexes and religious organizations.
“This is really an exciting milestone,” Pierce said, noting that the Beltline project had stretched for 20 years over four mayoral administrations. “We wouldn’t be here without the railroads and all the property owners.”
Pierce said piecing together the Northwest Trail segments has been the most difficult part of the trail, since there was no existing rail corridor to follow. He also praised the ABI team for working with landowners to assemble the necessary property.
“The Northwest Trail was complicated and gave us all migraines,” Pierce said, while also praising ABI’s design team and community engagement team for bringing the public into the process.
While the final loop segments are in place, Pierce is now focusing on affordable housing acquisitions near the trail. To date, 4,555 affordable units have been created or preserved within the Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD), 81 percent of the goal of 5,600 units by 2030.
Pierce and ABI are also working with the Georgia Department of Transportation to design and construct a separate Beltline bridge over I-20 parallel to Bill Kennedy Way.
There’s also the looming question of light rail on the 22-mile loop. The Beltline recently proposed a $3.5 billion rail plan, and the Atlanta City Council passed a resolution in support, but their remains divergent attitudes among city officials, residents, and business owners.
Pierce said that since Beltline rail hasn’t been fully designed, he couldn’t speak on whether additional land acquisitions would be necessary, but “there will probably be little bits and pieces we’ll need for rail construction.”
