Atlanta staff urges denial of White Street rezoning, says 335 homes fit existing rules

Atlanta planning staff recommends rejecting a rezoning at 1200 White Street SW in West End—but says the proposed warehouse reuse and 335 multifamily homes can happen under the zoning already in place. The Oct. 8 report draws a distinction between the development submitted and the broader permissions the applicant wants.

The proposal covers 12.501 acres and would adapt an approximately 200,000-square-foot warehouse, add the homes and include a mixed-use building. As described in the staff report, 20% of the homes would be available to households earning 80% of area median income. Those are proposed project terms, not an adopted housing obligation.

The requested change would replace industrial mixed-use zoning with MRC-3 mixed residential-commercial zoning, keeping the Beltline Overlay. Staff says that would eliminate the requirement to include industrial uses and raise the maximum floor-area ratio from 3.3 to 7.2—more than doubling the total building floor area allowed relative to the site’s area. Those are zoning ceilings, not the size of the submitted plan.

That additional permission is the sticking point. Staff calls the proposed development suitable for the site and possible under current zoning, while arguing that MRC-3 would allow incompatible density and erode industrial employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. Its recommendation is to retain the industrial framework, not to rule out homes alongside other uses.

The proposal also includes 975 parking spaces, although the report lists no parking minimum. Separately, the applicant has submitted a comprehensive-plan amendment from Industrial to Industrial Flex because, staff says, the requested MRC-3 zoning is incompatible with the existing plan designation. The report does not establish a separate decision on that amendment.

The Oct. 8 memorandum records staff’s recommendation to the Zoning Review Board. It does not establish a board or council rejection of the rezoning—or approval or rejection of the redevelopment itself.