The Atlanta Land Trust (ALT) celebrated the start of construction on The Trust at East Lake, a new, permanently affordable housing development in the city’s East Lake community. The announcement comes as ALT is leading the way towards a more sustainable approach to affordable housing in Atlanta by expanding homeownership throughout the city, including along the Atlanta BeltLine, and in neighborhoods such as Oakland City, Grove Park, and Pittsburgh.
This project is made possible through support from The CF Foundation, which donated the 2-acre site on which the project is being constructed, and the East Lake Foundation, which provided significant funding and programmatic support. Financial support from Bank of America Foundation through its Neighborhood Builders Award as well as a generous contribution from the TOUR Championship allowed the Foundation to meet its philanthropic commitment to the ALT to ensure all 40 townhomes would be offered at an affordable rate.
“This project wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of The CF Foundation and East Lake Foundation,” said Amanda Rhein, executive director for the Atlanta Land Trust. “They have worked alongside us to ensure this project provides low-income residents access to the opportunities homeownership provides. This complements their decades of work to improve outcomes for families in East Lake.”
ALT is partnering with DaVinci Development Collaborative who are serving as development managers for The Trust at East Lake. Once complete, the project will include 40 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units ranging from 600 square feet to 1,500 square feet with sales prices starting at $155,000. ALT aims to make half of the units affordable to families making at or below 80% of the area median income (AMI) —$68,960 for a family of four. The balance of units will be affordable to families making between 80 and 120% of AMI.
Affordable housing, including The Trust at East Lake and other existing and under construction apartment homes, is part of the East Lake Foundation’s initiative to help individuals build a better life for themselves and future generations through equitable access to cradle-to-college education, mixed-income housing, and high quality community wellness and economic vitality programming. The East Lake Foundation and ALT are working closely with the Foundation’s Resident and Community Support Program at The Villages of East Lake to ensure current East Lake residents are prepared to take advantage of these homeownership opportunities in their community.
“In East Lake, as in many other Atlanta-area communities, high-quality, affordable housing options are critical to the success of families and the community,” said Ilham Askia, president and CEO, East Lake Foundation. “We are so proud to partner with the Atlanta Land Trust and our philanthropic partners, including the TOUR Championship, to collectively address the housing affordability crisis in Atlanta not just for today’s families, but for future generations.”
Slated for completion in fall 2025, The Trust at East Lake is one of three multi-unit projects ALT is undertaking to mitigate gentrification utilizing a comprehensive, equity-driven approach that connects people, places, and quality of life. The community land trust model utilized by ALT provides for permanent affordability through a dual-ownership arrangement, in which low-income families purchase and own only the house, while leasing the underlying land from ALT. If and when the owner chooses to sell their home, resale restrictions ensure it will remain affordable for the next family, even as the seller benefits from the equity they created while in the home. The renewable, inheritable, ground lease means each home can provide affordable housing to approximately 16 families over the initial 99-year term, assuming an average tenure of six years.
The CF Foundation, East Lake Foundation, and TOUR Championship’s gifts support ALT’s broader efforts to raise $12.3 million in support of the development of 120 units across three sites in the city of Atlanta. Other key contributors to ALT’s capital campaign include The Kendeda Fund, Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, William Joseph Foundation, Tull Charitable Foundation, James M. Cox Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, The Fraser-Parker Foundation, LuluMa Foundation, Georgia Power Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners, Development Authority of Fulton County, State of Georgia, Atlanta BeltLine Inc., Invest Atlanta and pro bono support from Eversheds Sutherland. Donations in support of this effort can be made on ALT’s website at atllandtrust.org/get-involved/donate.
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Media Contact
Amanda Rhein
Executive Director, Atlanta Land Trust
(404) 257-6866
About Atlanta Land Trust
The mission of Atlanta Land Trust is to deliver and steward permanently affordable housing to support inclusive, equitable communities near the Atlanta BeltLine and other targeted areas in the city of Atlanta. Founded in 2009, the Atlanta Land Trust operates as a community land trust, which allows low-income homeowners to benefit from the equity built through homeownership, while at the same time permanently preserving the affordability of these homes to benefit generations of families. ALT is working to ensure that all Atlantans have affordable housing options in communities of opportunity and the ability to build wealth through homeownership.
About East Lake Foundation
Founded in 1995 by developer and philanthropist Tom Cousins, the East Lake Foundation collaborates with public and private organizations to provide tools and equitable opportunities that enable Atlanta’s East Lake residents to build a better future through its integrated and holistic model for community revitalization. The Foundation has helped to create mixed-income housing and infrastructure, educational opportunities from cradle to college, and community wellness activities such as entrepreneurship, career readiness, and financial literacy, among others, to ensure the East Lake neighborhood is recognized for what is possible and not defined by its past.
This innovative approach has proven that a community that had experienced disinvestment and a lack of opportunities for decades can be transformed into a neighborhood where children and their families thrive and experience increased upward mobility, improved health outcomes, and greater racial equity.
The success of the East Lake Initiative has served as the blueprint for a national model of holistic community redevelopment through Purpose Built Communities. Today, there are 27 additional Purpose Built Communities across the country — all of which are successfully creating opportunities for residents and building strong, economically diverse communities. For more information, please visit www.eastlakefoundation.org.
About DaVinci Development Collaborative
DaVinci Development Collaborative is an Atlanta-based, boutique real estate development management and advisory firm who helps clients create mission-driven places through collaboration and a multi-disciplined approach to its projects. DaVinci Development was created in 2014 in order to provide a higher level of development service—one that takes real estate to a more thoughtful and disciplined platform. Representing clients with a range of expert services, DaVinci Development proudly serves owners in ways that extend far beyond real estate development. The firm’s goal is to transform complicated and challenging projects and turn them into uniquely successful results for our clients and the communities they serve. Current and past clients include developers, hospitals, educational institutions, corporations, stadiums, arenas, museums, lenders, real estate investors, governmental entities, and numerous nonprofit organizations. DaVinci realizes the vision of each client project by consistently delivering on the details. To learn more, please visit www.davinci-dev.com.
