What’s Happening at 352 University Avenue in Atlanta?

Rede­vel­op­ment plans for 352 Uni­ver­si­ty Avenue are com­ing to life with the help of res­i­dents from NPU‑V and oth­er local com­mu­ni­ties. With­in the next decade, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion hopes to trans­form the 31-acre prop­er­ty, locat­ed in Atlanta’s Pitts­burgh neigh­bor­hood, into a vibrant space where res­i­dents can work, shop, cre­ate and play.

Here’s a quick look at where things stand now:

Phase One is Tak­ing Shape

The Foun­da­tion has final­ized an agree­ment with Colum­bia Core Part­ners to kick off con­struc­tion in ear­ly 2018. Phase one of rede­vel­op­ment will focus on the east­ern side of the site — which con­tains the property’s only exist­ing struc­ture — and give rise to a small busi­ness space and mak­er hub. In addi­tion to fuel­ing job cre­ation and entre­pre­neur­ship, this build­ing will also host neigh­bor­hood func­tions and serve as the even­tu­al home of the Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site office.

A Work­ing Group Calls a Vote

A work­ing group, which counts NPU‑V res­i­dents as mem­bers, has advanced efforts to name the project and site. In addi­tion to devel­op­ing sev­er­al con­cepts, the group has launched a call-in cam­paign to gath­er res­i­dent input on the pro­posed options. The final selec­tion will be announced at a com­mu­ni­ty meet­ing on Oct. 12, 2017.

Res­i­dent Engage­ment Remains a Priority

The Casey Foun­da­tion strong­ly believes that res­i­dents should have a say in issues impact­ing their com­mu­ni­ty — and the rede­vel­op­ment of 352 Uni­ver­si­ty Avenue is no excep­tion. To this end, Casey and Colum­bia Core Part­ners are sup­port­ing res­i­dent engage­ment in a vari­ety of ways, including:

• call­ing month­ly com­mu­ni­ty meet­ings and site tours to brief res­i­dents on the devel­op­ment process and solic­it input;
• con­ven­ing work­ing group meet­ings to dis­cuss nam­ing, his­to­ry, art, entre­pre­neur­ship and jobs;
• orga­niz­ing edu­ca­tion­al tours to oth­er local devel­op­ment projects; and
• host­ing focus group meet­ings with prospec­tive ten­ants and small busi­ness own­ers — such as welders, seam­stress­es and bak­ers — to col­lect feed­back on build­ing design.

Prepa­ra­tions Under­way to Keep Gains Local

The Casey Foun­da­tion and Colum­bia Core Part­ners are also com­mit­ted to help­ing res­i­dents reap the high­est eco­nom­ic gains pos­si­ble in con­nec­tion with the site’s rede­vel­op­ment. Accord­ing­ly, the Foun­da­tion is lever­ag­ing exist­ing part­ner­ships with work­force providers like the Cen­ter for Work­ing Fam­i­lies, Inc. and Con­struc­tion Ready to ensure that res­i­dents secure con­struc­tion-relat­ed and per­ma­nent jobs at the site and that local, minor­i­ty- and women-owned busi­ness­es obtain sub­con­tract­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties at every point in the project’s evolution.

Learn more about the his­to­ry and future of 352 Uni­ver­si­ty Avenue