Sweet Auburn Predevelopment and Technical Assistance Program

In early 2019,  Central Atlanta Progress  (CAP) and  Invest Atlanta  launched the “Sweet Auburn Technical Assistance and Predevelopment Fund (Program)" an innovative grant program that provided key resources to mission-aligned organizations to advance development in the historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood. Over the past two years, the effort has committed over $1.7 million in programmatic and real estate resources to the neighborhood.

The partnership deployed strategic resources to help ameliorate identified obstacles to real estate development and economic vibrancy in the historic Sweet Auburn area, as well as assisted property owners in compiling a more competitive and mission-aligned Eastside TAD application.

The program seeded an additional $6.3 million in Eastside TAD construction financing and is supporting a pipeline of approximately $400 million in total real estate investment.

This StoryMap highlights several of the participating sites in the Program. These sites are creating affordable and workforce housing, preserving cultural fabric, and delivering economic magnets to Historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood.    

CAP managed the delivery of predevelopment support and technical assistance utilizing contracted independent consultants to address the broad range of needs of the eligible property owners and institutions. Program participants were required to provide a financial cash match to demonstrate their commitment to the predevelopment work. 

In addition to site-specific resources, CAP also invested into district-wide resources, commissioning both a Market Study and Parking Analysis for the area. CAP also hired a program manager -  1025 Advisors  - who provided a dedicated point of contact for each of the property owners and their service providers. 

Alongside of  Sweet Auburn Works , our respective teams launched comprehensive community outreach efforts, including presentations at the various neighborhood and NPU meetings, direct mail, door-to-door outreach, as well as quarterly stakeholder meetings to update neighbors on the impact of the program. 

The Program assisted 20 distinct sites in the neighborhood, and over 35 unique scopes of work, ranging from design services, financial feasibility analysis, historic tax credit consultancy, and market analysis. The early infusion of capital led to the successful award of an additional $7.3 million in Eastside TAD construction funding. In total, the predevelopment work is supporting an estimated pipeline of $400M worth of real estate investment potential. 

The program placed a heavy emphasis on partnership with minority and women-owned business enterprises to carry out the technical assistance. To-date, 50% of consultants hired were minority-women business enterprises, minority-owned business enterprises, or women-owned business enterprises.

Named for its concentration of black wealth and political prominence during the first half of the twentieth century, Sweet Auburn is arguably Atlanta’s most historically significant neighborhood. The district is most notable as the home for many of the city’s first black-owned businesses and the bedrock of civil rights organizing decades later. However, desegregation, the construction of the Downtown Connector (I-75/85) and a lack of access to capital due to redlining ushered in an era of stark decline for Sweet Auburn through the 1970s and 80s.

Fast forward to today, against the backdrop of an unrelenting pandemic and amid a national racial reckoning, the fight for Black lives and Black communities continues in Atlanta and specifically Sweet Auburn. The outcries are being channeled into clear demands to invest in communities through affordable housing, healthcare, education, and livable wage jobs. Investments in legacy Black neighborhoods are paramount in stemming the disenfranchisement and systemic underdevelopment that so many came to protest.  

This neighborhood is a compact, walkable, and sustainable intown Atlanta community that is home to hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesses both long-standing and new. It is an increasingly popular place to call home. It is where thousands of Atlantans have come to worship for decades and where the world comes to pay homage to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and visit the birthplace Atlanta’s civil rights heritage. This area also includes major institutions such as Georgia State University and Grady Memorial Hospital, and the National Parks Service. It is also home to the City’s oldest nonprofits and religious institutions, ensuring the neighborhood retains it’s unique and historic story.  

Sweet Auburn is home to approximately 7,300 residents, though daytime population swells to over 40,000 with Georgia State students, visitors, and employees to the district. Median household income is around $54,000. The population reported the following racial/ethnic identities: 56% Black, 32% White, 6.6% Asian, 2% Other Race, and 3.2% Two or More Races. About 20% of households identify as “family households,” including a spouse, partner, child, or other family member. The District averages approximately $90 million a year in retail (including food and drink) sales. 

Including the projects highlighted here, there is a total of $700 million of investment in the pipeline for the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, inclusive of housing, office, community and nonprofit space, retail, and hotels.