Birth of a 'downtown' at 2nd and Hosea

After five years of labor, the final hurdles toward developing the four corner parcels at 2nd Avenue and Hosea Williams were cleared this month when the Atlanta Zoning Review Board approved a number of requested variances, including changes to city parking and loading zone codes.

When done, it will become yet another testament to Tom Cousins' quest to use real estate as a tool for public good -- a mission that, via the Cousins Foundation, has transformed East Lake and has rubbed off on the revitalization of the entire area.

The project, to be called East Lake Corner, will become Southeast Atlanta's newest neighborhood "downtown," replacing a tough, drug-ridden and weed-choked corner that the development's proponents say has plagued the progress of not just East Lake, but Oakhurst and Kirkwood, as well.

In return for 2nd and Hosea Partners, the developer, promising to go overboard on beautifying the area with land- and street-scaping, the zoning review board allowed the project to go forward without the usually-required number of parking spaces.

It's a wise move by the ZRB. After all, parking is a premium in all the nearby mini-downtowns, including Kirkwood, Oakhurst and East Atlanta. That shouldn't be a deal-breaker, especially when the developer, with the support of the community, has made a number of other concessions.

"Once we had a blighted and dangerous corner. Now we have a vision for real change,"

writes East Lake resident Kyle Caldwell, who sits on the East Lake subcommittee that followed the project through, on the KNO site.