Beltline condos bought, flipped

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Location and price can still drive real estate sales, as the Atlanta Beltline Inc. proved earlier this month by selling 28 condos in a matter of hours.

Enlarge photo

Rachel Tobin, rtobin@ajc.com The former Triumph Lofts, in a former motorcycle factory, feature plank wood flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows and all the trappings of lofts once listed for nearly $400,000.

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Atlanta Beltline bought the former Triumph Lofts on Memorial Drive, new units that had been forced into receivership before they sold. The two-bedroom condos lie alongside the Beltline, a loop of old railroad lines around Atlanta that the city is developing via the quasi-governmental agency into a corridor for transit and parks. The agency has a mandate to develop or maintain affordable and family-friendly housing in the neighborhoods it runs through.

The agency did minor work on the condos, such as putting in appliances, then flipped them by offering special deals to buyers who had to make less than $68,300 a year, have good credit and bring $1,500 to the closing. The agency also helped with financial assistance that drove the purchase price down to $90,000 for some buyers, which included teachers and emergency workers such as firefighters. Eligible applicants were put into a lottery, with winners getting to choose their units.

"We are very, very proud of this full team effort that went into acquiring this unique opportunity on the Beltline on the east side of town. It needed a little love and creativity to complete the project and place 28 people into homes," said Brian Leary, president and CEO of Atlanta Beltline.

The condos and 1.4 adjacent acres cost Atlanta Beltline $3.7 million, but it made $3 million on the sales and still has two condos that will sell at market price and the 1.4 acres to sell or develop into more housing, Leary said.

The Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, a tax-watch group, had expressed some concern about the Beltline project's $2.8 billion total costs and its mandate to create and maintain affordable housing. It would be best if the Beltline sticks to greenway development, said John Sherman, president of the foundation.

Atlanta Beltline gets its money from bonds it issues, which are paid back by money it collects from a tax allocation district. The TAD gets a portion of property taxes from the communities along the corridor, so more development and new housing equal more tax income for it.

Leary said there are no other housing purchases and resales like this under consideration.