ATLANTA — City Hall is trying to turn long-standing Westside blight from a neighborhood complaint into a formal legal track.
According to WSB-TV’s Richard Elliot, reporting early Aug. 20, Mayor Andre Dickens’ administration is asking Atlanta City Council to authorize condemnation proceedings for five properties in northwest Atlanta that officials say have remained distressed for years and are affecting surrounding blocks. WSB’s package is titled around the line neighbors used on camera: the sites are long-abandoned “eyesores.”
The five addresses
WSB lists the targeted parcels as:
- 533 English Avenue NW
- 748 Neal Street NW
- 293 Sunset Avenue NW
- 699 Joseph E. Boone Boulevard NW
- 2795 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway NW
Four sit in the broader Westside cluster; the Hollowell address is farther out near I-285, per the same report.
What condemnation would — and would not — do
WSB emphasizes a process point that is easy to overread: the proposed resolutions would only authorize the start of condemnation. They would not immediately transfer ownership to the city.
If condemnation ultimately becomes necessary, the city would still have to follow Georgia’s legal steps, including appraisals, notifications, and court proceedings, with any acquisition based on an independently appraised fair market value.
Formally labeling the properties as blighted, the city told WSB, gives officials additional tools under Georgia law beyond ordinary code enforcement.
Neighbors and council framing
At the Sunset Avenue property, neighbor Gail Santelli, who lives across the street, told WSB the abandoned structure has been a daily blight:
“It’s not pretty. It is not. It’s not a good eyesight. It is an eyesore.”
City Council member Byron Amos, quoted in the same package, said the Sunset Avenue building was already abandoned when he was a child and described the condemnation designation as another lever for action. WSB also reported that work crews were visible at two of the five properties on Wednesday — a sign, Amos suggested, that being put on the list can push owners to move.
A man who identified himself to WSB as the Sunset Avenue owner, James Arpad, said he plans to demolish the structure himself and has been waiting roughly two years for a demolition permit. He told the station he hopes eventually to sell the property, along with adjoining parcels, to developers interested in higher-density housing.
Policy frame
The Dickens administration tied the package to its Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, aimed at long-standing disinvestment. Officials have requested a specially called City Council meeting at the earliest appropriate date to consider the five resolutions, WSB reported.
This is a process-start story, not a demolition date, not a completed taking, and not a finished redevelopment plan. Watch the Council calendar for whether the authorizations land, and treat any later ownership change as a separate legal chapter.
Primary source: WSB-TV — Atlanta targets 5 blighted properties for possible condemnation, demolition.
