Local Affairs
Fulton County’s development authority has taken the first formal step toward a property-tax incentive for GuildHouse, a proposed $107.6 million apartment, townhome and retail project at 2085 Marietta Boulevard in northwest Atlanta that its backers project would support about 600 temporary construction jobs and 23 permanent positions.
The board of the Development Authority of Fulton County, which brands itself Develop Fulton, considered a letter of inducement for the project’s owner, 2085 Marietta GA Owner, LLC, at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to the meeting agenda. In a release dated Wednesday, Oct. 28, the authority said the board approved the bond inducement resolution.
An inducement is not a final deal. Develop Fulton’s release calls the vote “an initial step in the incentive process” that supports the project “as it advances toward closing and construction.” The authority’s agendas list bond resolutions as a separate, later action for projects it has already induced, and the GuildHouse fact sheet puts the estimated closing in the fourth quarter of 2026.
What is planned
According to the authority’s fact sheet, GuildHouse would include about 310 multifamily units and 39 rental townhomes, for 349 homes in all, plus 7,200 square feet of retail and co-working space. Fifteen percent of every unit type would be set aside as workforce housing for households earning up to 80% of the area median income.
The release says the project would deliver more than $12.4 million in direct community investments, including environmental remediation, infrastructure, public space with a public art program, a $1 million pocket park and connectivity improvements. The site has a history of industrial and commercial use, and the City of Atlanta approved land-use changes for 2051, 2085 and 2095 Marietta Boulevard beginning in 2022 to allow residential and commercial development.
Urbanize Atlanta reported in March 2025 that Atlanta developer Vida had named the project GuildHouse at Upper Westside. At the time, the plan called for 354 apartments and 39 townhomes on about 6.68 acres in the Bolton area, across from Crest Lawn Memorial Park, on land then used for bus and truck storage, a cafe building and an auto parts store. The current fact sheet lists fewer apartments, about 310, and does not name Vida.
How to read the jobs figures
The job numbers are projections, not hires or signed contracts. The fact sheet says the project “is expected to create approximately 23 permanent FTE jobs and 600 temporary construction jobs over the two-year construction period.” The release rounds the two together as about 623 jobs, but the construction positions would last only through the build, and neither document describes the permanent roles or their pay.
The authority also estimates an overall economic impact of about $419 million, a figure produced with an IMPLAN model of Fulton County rather than a count of spending or jobs.
The tax math
The fact sheet lays out what the incentive is worth. The property paid about $175,739 a year in taxes before the investment. Once completed, it would be expected to generate about $962,198 in its first year during the incentive period and about $13.77 million over 10 years. The estimated tax savings to the owner over those 10 years is about $5.24 million.
Develop Fulton Chairman Kwanza Hall said in the release that the project “is about creating a development that contributes to the surrounding community and strengthens Fulton County’s long-term economic vitality.”
The same Oct. 27 agenda carried two other inducement letters, for Yancey Bros. Co. in the City of South Fulton and for a rental townhome project at 1305 Boulevard Southeast in Atlanta.
Sources
- Development Authority of Fulton County, “Preliminary Agenda, Regular Meeting,” with fact sheets, October 27, 2026. https://www.developfultoncounty.com/uploads/meetings-and-minutes_41_963367144.pdf
- Develop Fulton, “Develop Fulton Propels $107.6 Million GuildHouse Development Foward,” October 28, 2026. https://www.developfultoncounty.com/uploads/news-list_18_3491801975.pdf
- Georgia CEO, “Develop Fulton Propels $107.6 Million GuildHouse Development Foward,” October 29, 2026. https://metroatlantaceo.com/news/2026/10/develop-fulton-propels-1076-million-guildhouse-development-foward/
- Urbanize Atlanta, GuildHouse at Upper Westside project report by Josh Green, March 12, 2025. https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/guildhouse-upper-westside-development-fresh-details-marietta-boulevard-project
Featured photo: Construction of 8787 Georgia Avenue, an apartment and retail complex in Silver Spring, Maryland, Feb. 14, 2023. Representative image; not the GuildHouse site on Marietta Boulevard in Atlanta. Photo: Farragutful, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped from the original.
