Late last year, the planning and redevelopment efforts for the long-vacant Peeples Street site in the West End had reached a stalemate. The official engagement process neared its scheduled close in late December, but feedback and survey results from nearly 70 community members showed no clear consensus on the proposed site plans.
It was at that point that Alexandria McBride—who grew up across the street from the Atlanta Public School (APS) site—first encountered the Peeples Street Master Plan and eventually was part of a community-led effort to propose a significantly different plan for the site, one that included a mix of housing options.
“This is a great opportunity to make West End a model for smart policy and to pilot innovative solutions already happening across the country—right here in our neighborhood,” McBride said at the April WEND meeting.
Even though the process took additional months of work, community members involved have expressed support for the different path.
The APS board is scheduled to vote on the new plan at their next meeting on Monday, August 11.
An unsupported proposal and a community with a plan
Last fall, the city-affiliated Atlanta Urban Development Corporation (AUDC)—a nonprofit tasked with converting underused public land into mixed-income housing—announced that the former Peeples Elementary school site was one of two “surplus” APS properties slated for immediate redevelopment.
The former Peeples Street Elementary School—closed in 1982 due to dwindling enrollment—has sat vacant for more than four decades. After a fire on March 29, 1986, the building was eventually demolished, and the 6.1-acre site in the heart of West End remains undeveloped today.
Image courtesy of Atlanta Urban Development Corporation
The AUDC launched an engagement process that included a survey, several public meetings, and vigorous discussion at monthly WEND meetings.
The survey of nearly 70 respondents showed no clear consensus: all three options received about the same amount of support. Those were single-family rental housing under existing zoning (35 units), moderate-density rentals (65 units), and higher-density rental housing (115 units). All options included a large parking lot and new commercial buildings—none of which generated widespread community support, particularly given the abundance of unoccupied commercial space adjacent to the site.
McBride—a recent renter-turned-homeowner with a background in sustainability and lived experience with gentrification in Oakland, CA—offered a contrasting vision centered on ownership to the affordable housing discussion. She believed permanent affordable homeownership, not just an increase in rental units, was essential to preventing displacement. Her ideas helped guide the visioning discussion away from rental-only proposals, ultimately shaping the final community recommendation.
As the APS board prepares to vote on the Master Plan on August 11, some critics argue the process dragged on too long with too little to show for it. But while other APS redevelopment efforts wrapped up on schedule with minimal revisions, the Peeples Street site followed a different path. It moved beyond time-limited, city-facilitated workshops structured with presentations and into resident-led zoning committee meetings that sometimes continued for more than two hours, until everyone had been heard.
The result isn’t a perfect match to APS’s original goals, but it reflects a more grounded and representative outcome: a balanced plan that emerged from deeper conversations about ownership, affordability, and neighborhood character. It also raises important questions about who leads engagement processes and what’s possible when they’re given time to evolve.
From the start back in October, the absence of ownership options—despite APS’s presentation acknowledging the decline in Black families in the neighborhood—frustrated longtime residents.
“APS has to be convinced not to hold that property on a 50-year ground lease because it just defeats the entire purpose,” said Terry Ross at the October 1, 2024, West End Neighborhood Development (WEND) meeting, as reported by Atlanta Documenters. “Workforce housing that can be purchased—that adds stability to the West End.”
In December, when artistic renderings of the proposed “missing middle” multifamily rental housing were released, neighbors with a strong interest in historic preservation bristled at the design. The boxy facades reminded residents of driving through Glenwood Park and the Edgewood neighborhoods to the Edgewood Retail District—one of the nearest shopping center locations until the Mall West End reopens. The modern, multi-story structures loom over modest legacy homes in those neighborhoods, contrasting sharply with the West End’s historic character.
An alternative proposal
McBride, whose family lived on Culberson Street for decades, wondered: “Was there no opportunity for longtime renters to stay in the neighborhood permanently?”
After conversations with immediate neighbors, McBride joined the WEND zoning committee and advocated for a different vision.
At the April WEND general body meeting, she presented the idea of a community land trust (CLT)—a model that anchors permanent affordability through fee-simple homeownership. CLTs offer a way to help moderate-income families build equity while guarding against displacement and preserving neighborhood character.
In a neighborhood grappling with speculative pressure and rising home prices, the CLT offered a tool to anchor affordability while allowing families to build equity.
“Let’s try to deliver a clear message on what’s possible—and our support for affordable homeownership,” McBride said at the April 1st WEND meeting.
A total of three WEND zoning committee meetings held across April and May became pivotal moments in breaking the stalemate. APS officials—including COO Larry Hoskins and Executive Director of Facility Services Daniel Drake—participated directly in the community-led zoning committee meetings, alongside WEND zoning members, representatives from the AUDC, City of Atlanta planning staff, and community stakeholders. A resident-led May 28 special call zoning meeting drew over 50 participants. It lasted nearly two hours and was intentionally paced to allow all voices to be heard.
Image courtesy of Atlanta Urban Development Corporation
Across these meetings, the plan evolved—from a 115-unit rental-heavy concept to a 67-unit layout emphasizing both homeownership and family-sized rentals. The final mixed housing vision honored the legacy of Culberson Street—a familiar blend of for-sale single-family homes and multifamily rentals—and struck a middle ground between competing community and city priorities. The updated design prioritized 2- and 3-bedroom rental units, while retaining some 1-bedroom rentals—potentially serving new teachers and young professionals hoping to plant roots in the West End. Commercial uses were dropped entirely due to the abundance of surrounding unoccupied commercial space.
In addition to the housing plan, two conditional letters of support were drafted by the zoning committee: one for the revised mixed-housing vision and another for the sale of 1.3 acres to Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, primarily for parking.
Letter of support for the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home land sale, which was not approved by the WEND general body.
The official letter of support from the WEND general body to APS regarding the Peeples Street Master Plan.
On June 1, the WEND general body voted to support a letter of conditional support for the mixed housing plan. They declined to endorse the funeral home sale. The hybrid meeting drew more than 80 attendees, according to WEND secretary Dave Mardis, making it one of the most well-attended WEND meetings in recent years.
“It doesn’t take long, if you start right” was the underlying sentiment at the June 1st WEND meeting, where the zoning committee members urged that future phases of the Peeples Street Master Plan redevelopment follow the same level of meaningful community involvement.
