Atlanta News

Self-storage project overlooking Atlanta's marquee park tops out Josh Green Mon, 05/05/2025 - 13:46

A controversial Virginia-Highland project has taken shape with sweeping views across Piedmont Park, the Beltline corridor, and Midtown’s skyline—but with minimal windows for enjoying the scenery. 

The self-storage facility project at the doorstep of two marquee, walkable intown attractions, the Beltline’s Eastside/Northeast trails and Piedmont Park, has reached its maximum height of five stories, according to building plans and a recent site visit. 

Two low-rise commercial buildings were demolished at the site last year (1011 Monroe Drive and 597 Cooledge Ave.) that had most recently housed Cantoni Furniture and Illuminations Lighting. The high-profile corner is located a few yards from where the Beltline’s popular Eastside Trail and new Northeast Trail section link to each other with an expanded, improved pedestrian crossing at Monroe Drive.  

Public Storage, a national self-storage provider, is building a larger facility to replace those structures. That use has drawn the ire of both neighborhood leaders and Beltline development arbiters. 

The company hasn’t clarified exactly what it’s building, or when it plans to deliver, despite repeated requests for more information throughout most of 2024. Inquiries this week to Public Storage officials have also not been returned. 

How the Public Storage project relates to the recently enhanced Atlanta Beltline pedestrian crosswalk at Monroe Drive. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Public Storage/Atlanta BeltLine DRC

The construction timeline is important to parts of Atlanta beyond the Monroe Drive site. 

On the flipside of Piedmont Park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s $150-million expansion project hinges on the Public Storage facility project being finished and open.

The Garden’s 8-acre expansion will consume adjacent land where Public Storage has operated for years. In exchange, the Garden is swapping the Monroe Drive property, which it bought for $13.5 million in 2023, with Public Storage, so the company can maintain a presence in the area.

The Botanical Garden also bought Public Storage’s facility on Piedmont Avenue, immediately north of the current gardens, for a reported $40 million.

Drawings shared by Public Storage representatives in early 2023 with the Atlanta Beltline Design Review Committee—following several design updates—lend an idea what’s in store for the intown corner. 

According to those plans, the self-storage project would include office space (and bike racks) with a large, Botanical Garden-themed mural on one wall.

The lack of retail space or residential uses such as townhomes peeved Beltline DRC members during planning stages in 2023. They criticized the project as presented as “a missed opportunity” and “a use that does not belong on the Beltline or anywhere near it.” 

Building permits indicate the self-storage facility will stand five stories—its height today. A competing business, Extra Space Storage, has long operated another self-storage facility next door on the same block, along Kanuga Street.

The project's northern face along Cooledge Avenue. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Proximity of the Self Storage site (in red) to the Eastside Trail, Piedmont Park, and Extra Space Storage immediately to the south. Google Maps

Botanical Garden officials told Urbanize Atlanta in November they hope to break ground on the expansion in late 2025, with completion sometime in 2027. But that’s all contingent on Public Storage relinquishing their current building on the Garden’s expansion site. 

Head up to the gallery for more context and photos showing how the Va-Hi self-storage build relates to Monroe Drive and the Beltline today. 

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• Virginia-Highland news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)

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1011 Monroe Drive Public Storage Atlanta Botanical Garden Virginia-Highland Civic Association Atlanta Construction Atlanta Development Self-Storage Self-storage development Self-storage facilities Piedmont Park Eastside Trail Beltline Atlanta BeltLine Rycon Construction Extra Space Storage

Images

Proximity of the Self Storage site (in red) to the Eastside Trail, Piedmont Park, and Extra Space Storage immediately to the south. Google Maps

State of previous buildings on site as of early 2023, with a competing self-storage facility visible next door. Google Maps

How the Public Storage project relates to the recently enhanced Atlanta Beltline pedestrian crosswalk at Monroe Drive. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The 1011 Monroe Drive project has reached its max height, if renderings submitted to Beltline DRC officials are any indication. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The west elevation overlooking Piedmont Park and Midtown today. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The project's northern face along Cooledge Avenue. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Public Storage/Atlanta BeltLine DRC

Subtitle Public Storage facility near Piedmont Park claims properties next to enhanced Beltline trails

Neighborhood Virginia-Highland

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As taxes climb, Atlanta launches special fund to combat displacement Josh Green Mon, 05/05/2025 - 08:09

For longtime, older Atlantans feeling the pinch of rising property taxes, relief could be on the way. 

Invest Atlanta has opened the application process for a program designed to provide legacy residents in the city with financial support to ease the burden of rising property taxes and keep them in their homes. 

The Anti-Displacement Tax Relief Fund, launched in partnership with the City of Atlanta, will cover property tax increases above the city’s base amount over a 20-year period for anyone who qualifies (and continues to qualify over time). City officials have allocated $10 million for the program from private resources, with the Centennial Yards Housing Trust Fund being a primary source, according to Invest Atlanta. 

The Anti-Displacement Tax Relief Fund application period ends May 31 this year. 

According to Invest Atlanta, qualified applicants must be age 60 or older, an Atlanta resident since 2015 (though priority will go to homeowners of more than 15 years), have a household income of 60 percent AMI or less, and be currently enrolled in qualifying homestead exemption programs, among other requirements. 

Invest Atlanta

The tax-relief issue is critical now because Atlanta’s rapid development and growth has put many longstanding community members and seniors at risk of displacement from the very neighborhoods they helped stabilize and build up, according to the program’s backers.  

According to Dr. Eloisa Klementich, Invest Atlanta president and CEO, a pilot program in 2024 accepted 105 applicants and saved legacy residents $41,405 in property tax increases. The agency expects 245 applications this year as the relief efforts spread citywide. 

“These payments, for some, represent more than a 30-percent increase to their tax bill,” Klementich said in a program announcement. “For those on fixed income it becomes very difficult to absorb.” 

Invest Atlanta has teamed with Forward as the program’s administration contractor to help with community outreach, application support (it’s available in 68 languages via phone, text, and email), and eligibility screening “in a way that uses taxpayer dollars efficiently,” per the agency. The program is one component of a broader city strategy to mitigate housing instability and aim for equitable growth. 

“By providing direct financial assistance to our Atlanta seniors for a 20-year period, we aim to not only alleviate the burden of escalating property taxes—particularly in areas of rapid gentrification—but also to empower residents to achieve greater stability,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, an Invest Atlanta chair, in the announcement. “This program is a significant step toward ensuring that our seniors and legacy residents feel secure in their homes and are not forced to relocate due to financial pressures.” 

More details on the program can be found online here, or by calling 855-582-3973. 

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• Affordable housing news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)

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Subtitle $10M Invest Atlanta initiative aimed at helping legacy residents across city

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