Wingate Planning 187 Units In Next Phase Of Bedford Pine Redevelopment

A Massachusetts-based multifamily developer is continuing its redevelopment of the Bedford Pine housing project in the Old Fourth Ward with a large new proposal. 

Wingate Cos. has filed an application to develop a 187-unit apartment complex at 640 Boulevard NE, a half-mile west of Jamestown’s Ponce City Market. The planned $26M, 198K SF building would be restricted to lower-income tenants.

This would be the fifth phase of Wingate's City Lights project, Sage Hoare, a spokesperson for the developer, told Bisnow in an email. The new project would replace the 7-unit apartment building at 640 Boulevard today and would include a mix of designated affordable and Section 8 units.

Wingate plans to replace the three-story apartment building with a project that will include a clubroom, a wellness and business center, laundry facilities, a pavilion, a grilling area and a playground, according to the application.

“At this early stage of our project, we are not prepared to comment on our plans,” Hoare said. “We anticipate knowing much more in the latter half of the year.”

Other phases of the redevelopment include City Lights, Station 464, Station 496 and 596 Boulevard, which is currently under construction, she added. 

Wingate, which has owned the subsidized housing complex since the 1970s, first began Bedford Pine's redevelopment in 2013, eight years after a fire destroyed two buildings.

Bedford Pine is the largest Section 8 housing project in the Southeast and was previously a hotbed of poverty and crime before Old Fourth Ward’s gentrification, Creative Loafing previously reported. 

Earlier this year, Wingate began construction of Boulevard North, an 88-unit project spanning addresses 579 Boulevard to 495 Boulevard Place. It is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, What Now Atlanta previously reported. Once open, Wingate will have redeveloped 387 of the 733 units of Bedford Pine, according to a press release issued in March.

In that release, Wingate said it was in an application process for the “last and final phase known as City Lights South,” with the firm seeking 4% tax credits from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. It is unclear if 640 Boulevard is part of that effort.