Atlanta’s long-standing apartments, famed for the “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign facing Peachtree Street have changed hands yet again — and soon it will join the city’s ranks of affordable housing units.
The Darlington apartments were first built in 1951 as some of the city’s first post-World War II working-class housing, but it gained additional popularity in 1965 when then-billboard mogul Ted Turner erected an “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign on the Buckhead street.
Turner later founded CNN, and the population sign became the backdrop for Metro Atlanta’s ever-growing population. Over the years, the property earned a reputation for troubled conditions and several ownership changes before getting an overhaul and rebrand in 2022 as The Lofts at Twenty25.
Now, it has new owners. On Thursday Atlantica Properties and nonprofit firm EQ Housing Advisors announced they closed on a $90 million purchase of the 623-unit lofts. The partners will set aside 30 percent of the apartments for “workforce housing.”
“We’re proud to help preserve mixed-income housing in a high-opportunity area,” Atlantica Properties Managing Partner Darion Dunn said.
The property company and nonprofit are working with the Atlanta Urban Development Corporation, a group established by the city to transform underused public land into mixed-income housing. AUDC will manage the ground lease as a subsidiary of Atlanta Housing. The city also approved a $10 million loan to support the affordable housing project.
It ensures the property will stay affordable for at least 25 years, with designated “affordable” units priced for residents earning between 50 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. For one person, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell median income is $67,500.
The project is part of Mayor Andre Dickens’ major goal: to create or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030. So far, Dickens has used public-private partnerships to chip away at the target. The Lofts are a prime example.
With a city loan, funding from Truist Community Capital, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and dollars from a “consortium of social impact investors,” Atlantica and EQ Housing were able to purchase the property.
“This financing structure ensures stability and impact through an aligned capital stack and long-term ownership,” EQ Housing Advisors chair Mark Pollack said.
According to a release, this purchase represents one of Atlanta’s “largest mixed-income public-private initiatives to date.” The partners plan to keep up the method on other projects, like the 214-unit 12th & James Apartments they purchased to preserve earlier this year.
