Abandoned, eyesore motel to become affordable housing community in Atlanta

ATLANTA — An abandoned metro motel, once plagued with crime, is getting a major facelift and a whole new mission.

The Atlanta Motel is a two-story building with 54 rooms along Moreland Ave. at Interstate 20.

It had fallen into serious disrepair over the years, but now a developer plans to transform it into an affordable housing community.

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“I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 25 years and always thought we could do better,” Stan Sugarman, the co-founder of Stryant Investments, told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims.

He routinely passes the motel and saw an opportunity in the crime-ridden property.

“You name it, it was happening – drug overdoses, prostitution, human trafficking. It was a laundry list of things happening here.”

So, in the summer of 2022, he bought the property, shut down the motel, and began looking for investors to fund his vision. “Create something great from something bleak,” he said.

The City of Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, Atlanta Beltline Inc. and other groups are funding the $6.4 million project to provide apartments for those in need.

“We’re talking households, people making less than $10,000 a year,” Sugarman said.

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No tenants will pay more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, Sugarman said.

The development, planned to open in the fall of 2024, will also have an onsite social worker office and several apartments to accommodate residents with disabilities.

“Finding new ways to serve Atlanta’s homeless population is another way Invest Atlanta and our partners are supporting Mayor Dickens’ goal to building or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030,” said Dr. Eloisa Klementich, the President and CEO of Invest Atlanta, in a statement.

The apartment community will be known as the Ralph David House.

“The Ralph David House project marks a significant milestone in fully affordable housing options in Atlanta and forwards Atlanta BeltLine’s mission to meet affordable housing goals along and around our 22-mile corridor,” said Clyde Higgs, President and CEO of Atlanta Beltline Inc., in a statement.

Kevin Ouzts, who owns a nearby meat store called The Spotted Trotter, called the motel redevelopment a welcome change.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Ouzts told Channel 2 Action News. “I think it’s gonna be wonderful for the neighborhood, really wonderful for folks that are looking for better housing opportunity in the city.”

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