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UrbanizeAtlNewsBot@yall.theatl.social

Images: Kirkwood project gets name, visuals on Memorial Drive Josh Green Mon, 10/28/2024 - 08:15 A residential Kirkwood project is coming into clearer focus that developers say will contribute to Memorial Drive’s metamorphosis as a more walkable, denser, and amenity-rich section of Atlanta.

Empire Communities, a Canada-based homebuilder with active development sites and finished projects dotted across Atlanta, is prepping to start vertical construction on what’s now called “Songbird,” the company’s third project along a few blocks of Memorial Drive on the eastside.

Empire officials say site work is finishing now on 3.6 acres that was formerly the Stanton Grove Baptist Church property at 2011 and 2015 Memorial Drive.

Vertical construction on the first of Songbird’s planned 81 townhomes is scheduled to begin with 60 days. (The project was subjected to an arson attempt in August, according to Atlanta police, that caused brief delays.)

Songbird floorplan called the Maxwell basement. Courtesy of Empire Communities

Recent aerial of the Songbird site, with the growing The Moderns townhome project pictured at top. Courtesy of Empire Communities

The Songbird name was inspired by the trees saved on site and a new dedicated greenspace that will be built at the entrance to the townhome community, near Memorial Drive, project officials tell Urbanize Atlanta. A yellow farmhouse near the front of the property, facing Memorial Drive, is also being retained.

All 81 of Songbird’s offerings will be for sale, as opposed to rentals, but information on estimated price ranges wasn’t provided.

By Atlanta standards, none of the townhomes will be especially large—either two or three bedrooms, with between 1,171 and 1,360 square feet—which could be a strategy to keep down costs for potential homebuyers.

Empire officials point to bus transit access into downtown as one selling point of the location. The deep site is situated where Kirkwood meets the Parkview neighborhood.

Empire also developed the rainbow-hued Paintbox community directly across the street.

Facades for the Addison floorplan, the largest of two being offered. Courtesy of Empire Communities

Arrangement of the 81 townhomes bound for Memorial Drive. Courtesy of Empire Communities

The acreage in question was annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2021, and the property was later rezoned to the same designation (MR-3) that applied to the Paintbox project, which also replaced a church.

Paintbox—named Attached Community of the Year by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association in 2021—has earned an average of 20 percent increase in values for current townhome owners, Empire leaders noted this week.

For the Songbird project, Empire officials have said they participated in more than seven meetings, collaborated with Kirkwood Neighbors Organization, and worked with adjacent property owners before applying for the rezoning. KNO leadership previously told Urbanize Atlanta the neighborhood governing board stressed to Empire the Memorial Drive venture should be both walkable and safe for cyclists, environmentally sustainable with shade, greenspace, and native plantings, and respectful of neighboring tree canopies and connections to the broader community.

Elsewhere along Memorial Drive, Empire previously built a single-family home community called Bixton across the street from Drew Charter School.

The company’s latest intown bet will add to a stock of hundreds of new townhomes in the pipeline now or recently developed along the Memorial Drive corridor.

The 2011 and 2015 Memorial Drive location, east of downtown, where Kirkwood meets the Parkview neighborhood. Google Maps

The two Songbird floorplans currently offered:

Empire Communities

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Empire Communities

Overview of the former Stanton Grove Baptist Church property along Memorial Drive, looking south. The 62-unit The Moderns townhome project is shown at left while under construction. Google Maps

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