This one's frustrating because Two Peachtree was supposed to be a major win for affordable housing in downtown Atlanta. The city bought the long-vacant office tower from the state back in 2023 with big plans: 287 rental units for households earning less than the area median income, plus refurbished office space and street-level retail, all just steps from the Five Points MARTA station.
But something's not right. On Monday, Atlanta City Council basically shelved legislation related to the project without much explanation. The bigger issue seems to be that nobody wants to talk about how the city plans to pay for this massive conversion. We're talking about transforming a 41-story office building into mixed-use development, which isn't exactly cheap.
What makes this especially disappointing is the location. You couldn't ask for better transit access, and downtown desperately needs more people living there to help with street-level activity and safety. If this project falls through or gets significantly delayed, it's a huge missed opportunity for the kind of transit-oriented affordable housing we claim to want in Atlanta.
