Oakland Park Condominium Closing Marks 100th TAD Closing

When Aiesha Bridges closed on her new Oakland Park condominium last month, she became the 100th person benefiting from the Atlanta's Eastside Tax Allocation District (TAD) Affordable Housing Purchase Program. Bridges purchased a one-bedroom condominium for $200,000, but will only finance $112,000 herself thanks to the layering of several subsidies from the Eastside TAD program. The various government subsidies made Bridges’ new Downtown one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo more affordable for a teacher’s salary.

Oakland Park is Atlanta's first Silver LEED Certified multi-family project - a particularly appropriate choice for a science teacher. Bridges says she plans to incorporate her new home into her lesson plans about conservation and sustainability when school starts up again.

“I think the program really is designed for people like me: those with a steady income and wanting to live in the city but not having to pay thousands and thousands of dollars,” said Bridges, who has already moved into her new condo. “Another teacher was just saying how impossible it is to find a home being 24 years old and being single. I was like, ‘Well, not exactly!’”

“Aiesha is a perfect example of the deserving individuals that are part of the Eastside TAD program, said Mark B. Riley, Managing Partner of Urban Realty Partners, one of the developers of the building, who presented Bridges with a welcoming gift of environmentally friendly home products on the day of the closing. “She dedicates her life to teaching our children and will now be able to enjoy the convenience and lifestyle of living in a new, vibrant downtown community.”

Other subsidy dollars for Bridges’s new home come from the HOME Atlanta and American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI) programs, administered by the Atlanta Development Authority, and the Capitol Gateway down payment assistance program, administered by the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA). Bridges also received a grant from ADA in the amount of 4 percent of her home purchase price that she was able to use toward closing costs.