Integral and Atlanta Housing finally settle land deals 

The long and twisted ordeal is over.

After eight years of protracted legal battles, the Integral Group and its partner companies have consummated their land deals with the Atlanta Housing Authority.

On Feb. 3, 2002, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens — during his first month as mayor — announced that the city, Atlanta Housing (under the leadership of then-CEO Eugene Jones) and Integral had reached an agreement to settle the legal disputes with Integral and its partners.

It took more than two years to consummate that agreement, which needed to be signed off by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. The lawsuits were over properties next to four projects developed by Integral and its partners Urban Realty Partners and H.J. Russell & Co.

“It was complicated,” said Egbert Perry, Integral’s founder and chairman, in an exclusive interview Wednesday afternoon. “We needed HUD approval. And there were lots of parcels.”

The four development projects involved are College Town, Auburn Pointe, Capital Gateway and the Villages at Carver. (See property maps below).

The agreement was over the disposition of about 88 acres adjacent to those four developments developed as four separate partnerships. Integral and its partners will retain 54 of those acres, while Atlanta Housing will hold title to 34 acres.

The partnerships will also pay $26 million to Atlanta Housing to compensate the authority for its 50-50 ownership of the 88 acres. The agreement calls for all parties to release each other from any future claims related to the sites and the contracts.

Vicki Lundy Wilbon, Integral’s president of real estate (who Perry said actually serves as the company’s CEO), said in a statement that she’s pleased the partnerships will be able to move forward with plans to develop those 54 acres. 

“The revitalizations have been delayed and sitting unfinished since 2016 when the partnerships notified AH of their intent to commence these next phases,” Wilbon said. “I’m happy to bring this chapter to a successful close. Our longstanding partnerships with AH are rooted in more than this transaction. Our ongoing collaboration represents a mutual dedication to forging a promising future for Atlanta.” 

Terri Lee, president and CEO of Atlanta Housing, agreed.

“This settlement agreement will finally allow the development of these important properties,” Lee said in a text. “In partnership with the Integral Group, we will be able to produce safe, quality and affordable homes to many future residents.”

Perry did not want to discuss the period between 2016 and 2022 when Integral and its partners were in litigation against Atlanta Housing over the value of the undeveloped land around the four projects. The instigator behind those lawsuits was then-Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who had a vendetta against Perry and Renee Glover, the longtime CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority.  

“It stopped the momentum,” said Perry, describing it as an eight-year hiatus on those projects. “It was an aggravation, but I knew we were on the right side of the narratives no matter what people said. Eventually the truth comes out. The rest of it is just noise.”

The relationship between Integral and Atlanta Housing improved as soon as Dickens became mayor. Dickens also revamped the board of Atlanta Housing, and he has made the development of affordable housing a top priority.

“Over the last two years, we have been partners,” Perry said of Atlanta Housing and the city. “We are going to continue to operate collaboratively so that whatever we do and whatever they do will complement each other.”

Now Integral will spend much of the rest of 2024 revisiting the development plans for the various properties. For example, two of the properties, Auburn Pointe and Capitol Gateway, are close to the Summerhill Publix grocery store, which was developed during that eight-year period. That means those projects could have a different retail mix from the original plans.

“A lot of promises were made to the residents,” Perry said. “In all four sites, we will have retail and residential at a minimum. Each of the developments will be on their own cycle.”

As originally anticipated, most of the new residential development will be market-rate housing to complement the deep affordability that has been part of the existing properties.

“When you add the phases that have already been done with the new developments, the percentage of affordable units will be about 50 percent,” Perry said.

Perry and Glover were pioneers in redeveloping dilapidated public housing projects into mixed-income communities with neighborhood amenities, such as schools and community centers.

Beginning in 1994, Integral and another developer, partnered with Atlanta Housing to create Centennial Place, the nation’s first mixed-use, mixed-income community development project. It included an early childhood development center operated by Sheltering Arms, a family YMCA, a school focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics as well as a variety of housing options with retail and commercial spaces. 

As a first of its kind, the mixed-income Centennial Place development helped set the stage for what is commonly referred to as the “Atlanta model.” It was a model that inspired similar developments throughout the country.

By the time Glover stepped down as CEO of Atlanta Housing in September 2013, most of Atlanta’s public housing projects had been redeveloped. After Glover left, Atlanta Housing barely developed any new projects until the past couple of years.

“Now it’s finally over,” Perry said. “We can go back to the promises we made and the visions we had with some revisions. It’s good to be able to take those four visions to the finish line.”