Atlanta News

From the Saporta Report:

The Atlanta Regional Commission received a $3 million safe streets grant from the Department of Transportation to improve school road safety in the city of Brookhaven and Clayton and Spalding counties.  On Jan. 27, ARC announced the funds, which prioritize communities with more than 17 roadway deaths per 100,000 people annually. The money will go […]

The post ARC receives $3 million safe streets grant for Brookhaven, Clayton and Spalding counties appeared first on SaportaReport.

From WABE Politics News:

Starting next deer season, hunters in south Georgia will have the option to drop off the heads of deer they take to be tested for a fatal and infectious brain-eating […]

Arts Atlanta:

In his new book, The Makeshift City (GOST Books, 2024), Georgia State photography instructor Joshua Dudley Greer tells the story of an ever-changing Atlanta in 69 color photographs made over the last half-decade. All cities are perpetually in flux. But in Atlanta, relentless change is something like a civic philosophy: The city has been remade...

From the Atlanta Daily World:

(NewsUSA) – Fifteen years ago, I made a life-changing decision: leaving my home country of El Salvador for America. Like so many immigrants, my goal was to provide more opportunities for my family. That journey, while challenging, shaped my path as an advocate for education and a voice for Latino families. Today, I work to … Continued

The post School choice: A lifeline for Latino families in America appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

From the Atlanta Daily World:

Owners of multiple McDonald’s franchises, husband and wife duo Andre and Danesha Smith have found success through their Sunshine & Sunrise Enterprises and give back through their non-profit Shine2Inspire.  The Smiths recently hosted their 2nd Annual Shine2Inspire Golf Classic at Disney World Golf Resort.  In an interview with ADW, Andre and Danesha shed light on how … Continued

The post Husband And Wife Business Duo Discuss Impact Of DEI Rollbacks, Non-Profit Shine2Inspire, And 2025 Goals appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

Report: ATL home prices ballooned nearly 60 percent since pandemic Josh Green Tue, 01/28/2025 - 08:43 An eye-popping report released this week by Georgia Multiple Listing Service could be either disconcerting or a cause for celebration, depending on which side of the homeownership divide metro Atlantans fall.

The year-end 2024 figures compiled by Georgia MLS contrast the state of home prices across (traditionally affordable) metro Atlanta and Georgia today versus five years ago—or the last full year before a global pandemic sent the housing market into a tizzy, especially in Sun Belt places such as Atlanta and its suburbs.

Perhaps the most compelling number is the change in median close prices—a jump of 59 percent—for homes across what Georgia MLS considers Atlanta’s “core counties” between 2019 and 2024. (Those 12 counties are: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale.) 

That means the median home sale five years ago around Atlanta was about $255,000. Today it’s $405,000, according to Georgia MLS’ tally for 2024.

That mark is still slightly less than the national sales median for 2024, when a dearth of supply led to a nearly 30-year low in total sales of previously occupied homes for the second year running—or what the Associated Press called the “latest evidence that homeownership is becoming increasingly less accessible to many Americans.”

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The phenomenon of dwindling supply has been felt locally, too.

More than 77,000 homes sold in metro Atlanta in 2019. But last year, that number had dipped by nearly 28 percent to just over 55,700, according to Georgia MLS tabulations.

If there’s any good news for buyers in the five-year roundup, it’s that homes stayed on the market longer in 2024 than at any point since the teens.

According to Georgia MLS, the median days-on-market for homes around Atlanta last year was 22 days. (Contrast that with the lunacy that was pandemic-era 2021, when the median DOM was a mere six days.)

Here’s a snapshot of Georgia MLS’ findings, both for Georgia at large and the dozen core counties around its capital city:

Georgia MLS

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Subtitle A cause for concern—or celebration?

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From the Atlanta Daily World:

  Former Georgia prosecutor and District Attorney Jackie Johnson, charged with obstructing justice in the cases against the now convicted killers of Ahmaud Arbery will appear in a Brunswick County court this Tuesday morning for jury selection in her impending trial for criminal misconduct and hindering a police investigation in the 2020 death of the … Continued

The post Former Georgia Prosecutor Jackie Johnson Charged for Hindering Ahmaud Arbery Murder Investigation [Video] appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

From the Atlanta Daily World:

Photo: Getty Images Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms hinted at her next move in politics after President Donald Trump attempted to fire her from the senior advisory position she held under the Biden administration. In a recent interview with WSB-TV, Bottoms, who served in the President’s Export Council, spoke out about Trump trying to … Continued

The post Keisha Lance Bottoms: Her Next Act appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

From WABE Local News:

Jury selection is set to conclude Tuesday in the criminal misconduct trial of a former Georgia prosecutor charged with interfering in the police investigation of the 2020 killing of Ahmaud […]

From the Atlanta Daily World:

Throughout his life, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had more detractors than allies. MLK became a global hero after his assassination in 1968, and President Ronald Reagan added to his legacy in 1983 by making his birthday a national holiday. MLK still had detractors. Most of them were academics who disagreed with … Continued

The post J. Pharoah Doss: The new breed of MLK detractors, Part 1 appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

From the Saporta Report:

Atlanta has a strategic opportunity to embrace Downtown revitalization efforts by fueling new and improved transit service. In conversations with about a dozen business and civic leaders, it has become obvious that our city is at a pivotal juncture when it comes to Downtown and transit. First, stars are aligned to bring new life to […]

The post Rail transit key to Downtown revitalization appeared first on SaportaReport.

From the Saporta Report:

A celebration of life for the man who died during an encampment cleanup on Jan. 16 will be held near the location where he passed away. On Feb. 3, the family and friends of Cornelius Taylor will say their final goodbyes at his funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 11 a.m. The church is a […]

The post Funeral arrangements announced for man killed during encampment demolition appeared first on SaportaReport.

From the Saporta Report:

He was everybody’s cousin. Nobody’s fool. And the richest 21-year-old in town. John Thrasher had been awarded a $25,000 contract to build a railroad embankment. Over the coming months, he would create a clearing in the forest, build several one-room, dirt-floor cabins for labor that he would soon hire and open up a general store […]

The post Atlanta’s First Community appeared first on SaportaReport.

From the Saporta Report:

If any state has reasons to worry about bird flu, it’s Georgia.

The post Where poultry’s king, bird flu is a crisis appeared first on SaportaReport.

From the Saporta Report:

MARTA has been working since 2021 on redesigning its bus service network and is inviting public input on the changes through Feb. 22.  The NextGen Bus Network is the most comprehensive update so far to a system originally designed in the 1970s. MARTA has experienced a drop-off in bus ridership since the start of the […]

The post MARTA seeks public input on proposed bus service changes appeared first on SaportaReport.

From WABE Arts and Culture News:

Sharma Acharya kneels down in a little patch of grass. During a few weeks in late fall, he and his colleagues watch this little part of the field like hawks.  […]

From WABE Local News:

The Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce have partnered to help working families and Georgia employers. The organizations have launched The Best […]

From WABE Politics News:

Monday marks the start of the third week of the 2025 Georgia legislative session. Georgia lawmakers are returning to the state capitol following last week’s winter storm and on the […]

From WABE Politics News:

At least 956 people have been detained, following President Donald Trump’s massive deportation efforts. Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched “targeted operations,” making arrests in several states across the […]

From the Atlanta Tribune:

Ahead of Trump’s second term, the historic Black press can serve as a guiding light for practicing journalism in pursuit of a healthy democracy — or, at least, survival and community. by Nicole CarrNovember 9, 2024 Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on X (Opens in new window) Click to email […]

The post The Black press democratized America appeared first on Atlanta Tribune.

From WABE Politics News:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said vaccines are not safe. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable. And farmers across the Midwest are nervous over his talk of […]

At doorstep of Atlanta's airport, 7-building project officially a go Josh Green Mon, 01/27/2025 - 13:03 Just a few blocks from parked jets at the world’s busiest airport, a mixed-use project developers hope will continue downtown Hapeville’s revitalization is officially underway. 

Charlotte-based developer Terwilliger Pappas Multifamily Partners has broken ground on a sizable apartment community with retail called Solis Hapeville, according to construction company Fortune-Johnson, the project’s general contractor.

Solis Hapeville’s seven residential buildings will rise on an assemblage of parcels along Porsche Avenue, between Hapeville’s artsy commercial core, Porsche's expanded North American Headquarters, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The finalized apartment count will be 305 market-rate units spread across the 9.1-acre site, according to Fortune-Johnson.  

As shown in 2022, the Solis Hapeville site's proximity to Porsche's expanded campus, longer Porsche Experience Center Atlanta track, and the airport. Google Maps

Plans for the Solis Hapeville project’s Porsche Avenue facade.Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

The seven wood-framed, garden-style buildings at 3558 Elm St. will each stand three or four stories, per plans submitted to Hapeville city officials last year.

The main structure at Solis Hapeville will include about 8,500 square feet of retail spaces fronting Porsche Avenue, plus a clubroom. Another will be crowned with a sky lounge.

The Solis project, as drawn up by Dynamik Design, will also include two ancillary buildings used as standalone parking garages.

Across the property, plans call for 470 parking spaces overall—or 139 more than what Hapeville requires, according to earlier project filings.

Overview of the planned seven-building community. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

The Solis Hapeville site plan, with the main building shown at right, and six ancillary residential buildings placed near it. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

According to Terwilliger Pappas, the Hapeville project is scheduled to be finished in spring 2026.

Previously, Mill Creek Residential appeared ready to close and break ground on the same property for a 300-unit venture called Modera Hapeville that had earned unanimous approval from the Hapeville Planning Commission. But last year, Mill Creek officials opted to back away, citing constrained capital markets and “unforeseen delays in the acquisition of a key city-owned land parcel” at the site’s corner.

Elsewhere in the metro, Terwilliger Pappas is behind another Solis-branded project in downtown Gainesville, and the residential component of the Parkside on Dresden development (named Solis Dresden Drive) that recently opened in Brookhaven. 

The company’s Hapeville endeavor is hardly the only residential project of significant scale in the area.  

Other residential developments recently delivered, or in the pipeline, near downtown Hapeville include a 285-unit multifamily project called SCP Hapeville, 68 rental townhomes along main-drag North Central Avenue, and a relatively dense single-family enclave called the Stillwood. 

Meanwhile, Texas-based D.R. Horton, the country’s largest homebuilder, is planning to build more than 100 townhomes on another 8.3 acres immediately west of the Solis project.

Also nearby, Porsche completed its $50-million track expansion in 2023; next door to that project, Atlanta Postal Credit Union and Center Parc Credit Union are constructing a new 135,000-square-foot, Class A office headquarters. 

Find more context and imagery for Solis Hapeville in the gallery above.

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3558 Elm Street Solis Hapeville Terwilliger Pappas Porsche Avenue and Elm Street Dynamik Design Kimley Horn Kimley-Horn & Associates Atlanta Development Atlanta Construction Porsche Experience Center Atlanta Atlanta apartments Kimley-Horn Solis Coro Realty Advisors Major & Arroll D.R. Horton Terwilliger Pappas Multifamily Partners Fortune Johnson

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As shown in 2022, the Solis Hapeville site's proximity to Porsche's expanded campus, longer Porsche Experience Center Atlanta track, and the airport. Google Maps

Plans for the Solis Hapeville project’s Porsche Avenue facade.Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

Overview of the planned seven-building community. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

The Solis Hapeville site plan, with the main building shown at right, and six ancillary residential buildings placed near it. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

How street retail (at bottom) is expected to be worked into plans. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

Plans for the small, standalone garages on site. Terwilliger Pappas; designs, Dynamik Design

Subtitle Solis-branded development continues residential influx in downtown Hapeville

Neighborhood Hapeville

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From the Atlanta Tribune:

Atlanta’s acclaimed, annual science celebration explodes with more than 100 events taking place March 8-22 throughout metro Atlanta Atlanta Science Festival (ASF) presented by Delta Air Lines, the city’s ultimate celebration of all things science and one of the largest of its kind in the country, returns March 8-22. All ages have the opportunity to […]

The post Atlanta Science Festival returns with exciting 2025 programming appeared first on Atlanta Tribune.

From WABE Arts and Culture News:

Atlanta’s dance scene is vibrant and eclectic, and we are honored to highlight some of the many local dancers who move us with their movements in our ongoing series “Speaking […]

From WABE Politics News:

Georgians voted in November to limit how much of a home’s increasing value can be taxed, but many school districts across the state are opting out of the cap, meaning homeowners may […]