Nearly three years after its search began again, Atlanta BeltLine Inc. has officially installed a development team to transform vacant but historic property abutting a section of popular trail in Southwest Atlanta, bumping the project to its next phase.
In separate meetings this month, the board of directors for both the Atlanta BeltLine and Invest Atlanta voted to select Culdesac and Urban Oasis Development as developers for the vacant Murphy Crossing property along the Westside Trail in Oakland City.
The approvals provide a green light for BeltLine officials to enter into a contract with the developers—and to move forward with “substantial development activities” including entitlement and community engagement for the “transformational” project, ABI announced today.
The 20-acre site—situated where Oakland City meets Adair Park and Capitol View—once operated as the Georgia Farmers Market and currently includes about a dozen warehouses and other buildings.
(Observers will recall that both Arizona-based Culdesac and Urban Oasis Development, a minority-owned firm in Atlanta, were picked as finalists to remake Murphy Crossing in September 2022; that generated buzz for the relatively dense, transit-oriented project’s prospects, but little has happened in the way of progress in the year and ½ since—at least not publicly, or in terms of physical changes on site.)
Culdesac won the BeltLine’s favor for its innovative approach to creating thriving, walkable districts less reliant on vehicles than typical developments. Joel Dixon, an Urban Oasis Development principal, predicted in today’s announcement that Murphy Crossing will evolve into “a beacon for economic inclusion, job creation, and affordable housing and commercial spaces” not far from two MARTA stations (West End and Oakland City).
Murphy Crossing site rendering by Culdesac
According to BeltLine officials, the public-private partnership will require that developers…
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