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NPU – Apartments approved, Edgewood gets safer

Kirkwood and East Lake Metro ATL

NPU – Apartments approved, Edgewood gets safer

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Photo obtained via https://www.facebook.com/EdgewoodRetailDistrict/

Photo obtained via https://www.facebook.com/EdgewoodRetailDistrict/

A citizens advisory board on Tuesday gave its overwhelming support to an apartment project and learned what the owners of a local shopping center are doing to make the center safer.

Neighborhood Planning Unit – O voted 14-2-1 in favor of a zoning change that will allow Euramex Management to move forward with a plan to construct 250 to 260 apartment units on Bixby Street behind Kirkwood Station. The developers will now seek approval from the city of Atlanta.

Harold Buckley, an attorney who spoke on behalf of Euramex, said the company went the extra mile to get the neighborhood on board with its plans.

“Euramex started reaching out to the neighbors in the end of March, beginning of April time frame,” Buckley said. “We didn’t actually file the rezoning application until July. …  The proposal you see before you today is a result of the conversation with the neighbors.”

Compared with other developers, Euramex has practically glided through the often-contentious citizen input process in the city of Atlanta. Kirkwood Neighbors’ Organization gave the project the thumbs up on Sept. 10, voting for it 37 to 6. During the NPU-O meeting, one person who attended praised he developer’s outreach to the community and the vote happened fairly quickly, considering the subject matter.

Neighbors imposed several conditions, including a costly one: insisting the apartments wrap-around secured parking, as opposed to constructing a flat surface.

That increased the construction costs per square foot. One-bedroom apartments that will be available for $1,100 to $1,200 and two-bedrooms available for $1,500 to $1,600, the developers say. The development does not have an official start date.

In other news, Valencia Hudson, the public safety liaison for Atlanta City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong’s office, updated the NPU-O on a recent meeting with the management of the Edgewood Retail District. The Retail District is a favorite target of shoplifters, but a violent carjacking inside a parking garage in July led to calls for safety improvements.

Hudson told the NPU-O that the management has increased the number of officers in its security patrol.

“They are also looking at replacing the lighting under the parking deck,” Hudson said.

Hudson said management is switching all of the cameras from analog to digital so they can be linked with other cameras used by the Atlanta Police Department.

“They’re taking a lot of steps to improve the security up there,” Hudson said.

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