Old Fourth Ward To Get $35 Million Apartment Complex

North American Properties, a privately held real estate firm, said it closed on a deal to purchase a 3.7 acre tract in Old Fourth Ward for a $35 million luxury apartment complex.

The mid-rise apartment complex is slated to have 276 units on the site, which is bounded by Glen Iris Drive, Dallas and Rankin streets and Historic Fourth Ward Park, Cincinnati-based North American Properties said.

The land was acquired for little more than $5 million.

“As the country’s demographics shift, it’s clear Generation Y prefers to rent their homes, and they want their apartments to be in walkable surroundings in urban settings,” Mark Toro, North American Properties' managing partner, said in a statement.

“The Old Fourth Ward is undergoing an incredible transition, and our target customers want to live in this exciting neighborhood.”

The company, which was founded in 1954 and has other planned projects in Nashville, Austin and Dallas, projects it will begin construction later in the spring. The company's timeline is to have the units ready by the fall of 2013.

The project is another jewel in Old Fourth Ward's ongoing renaissance crown.

In January, Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall, whose District 2 includes Old Fourth Ward, announced a multi-pronged, targeted initiative — one of Old Fourth Ward's main thoroughfares — of many of the problems that residents complain has been a drag on quality of life.

Last July, Jamestown Properties purchased the former City Hall East Building from the city for $27 million. The company is planning a $180 million renovation to the property at Glen Iris Drive and Ponce de Leon Avenue to create the , comprising some 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

In June, the city opened the Historic Fourth Ward Park. The 17.6-acre park, roughly bounded by North Avenue, Freedom Parkway and Glen Iris Drive, is part of the Atlanta BeltLine Project, the planned 22-mile necklace of parks, trails and transit around the city.

The North American Properties project will be off the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail.

The company said the development marks its first ground-up multifamily development in Atlanta since shifting its focus from retail development.