Murphy Crossing redevelopment in Atlanta in jeopardy

The long-awaited redevelopment of a 20-acre industrial site adjacent to the Atlanta Beltline’s Westside Trail is now in doubt after two years of negotiations broke down.

Atlanta Beltline Inc. announced Jan. 10 it has issued a notice of termination for the sale of Murphy Crossing in southwest Atlanta to Arizona-based Culdesac Inc. and Urban Oasis Development of Atlanta.

Culdesac and Urban Oasis Development were picked as the development finalists in September 2022 and were later approved as the developers by the ABI and Invest Atlanta Board in March 2024.

The redevelopment of the former Georgia State Farmers Market property into a vibrant community with more than 1,000 residences, retail spaces, and a new MARTA infill station promised to be a catalyst for the area surrounded by the Adair Park, Oakland City, and Capital View neighborhoods.

ABI said in a news release that negotiations for the sale and redevelopment of Murphy Crossing “faced significant challenges” which prevented the parties from coming to final terms and threatened to further delay development activities. 

Since 2022, tightening conditions, such as higher borrowing costs, for commercial real estate and particularly mixed-use developments contributed to changes to the project and delays in pre-development activities for the project, according to ABI.

Delays in pre-development activities included entitlements, ABI told Rough Draft. Entitlements are the legal agreements granted by the city to developers to use a piece of land for a specific purpose.

ABI will now begin the process again to redevelop the property. A community stakeholder meeting will be scheduled in February to discuss the next steps.

“We remain committed to the redevelopment of Murphy Crossing.  We will continue to advance our work to realize a high-density, mixed-use, equitable development project on this site that will meet the needs of our Oakland City, Adair Park, Capitol View, and Bush Mountain residents,” said Atlanta Beltline, Inc. President and CEO Clyde Higgs in the release.

Culdesac did not return a request for comment from Rough Draft. Culdesac Chief Investment Officer Caroline Lerner Perel told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the developer remains “committed to the project” but did “not believe that ABI (Atlanta Beltline Inc.) had the right to terminate the purchase and sale agreement.”

“Our priority is fulfilling our fiduciary responsibility to the public and delivering on the promises made throughout the many community engagement activities for this site,” said Dennis Richards, Jr., Atlanta Beltline, Inc., Vice President of Housing Policy & Development. “ABI will continue with the planning and development of this site, and we look forward to sharing our next steps with the public in the coming weeks.”