Real estate developer Booker Washington, founder of Techie Homes, is set to open Union Park Cottages, a Black-owned micro-home community featuring a technology lab and coffee shop.
The project aims to make homeownership more accessible in the area, while also creating community engagement and economic growth.
Union Park Cottages will offer smart, smaller homes priced below the current market rates, part of Washington’s broader effort to address the housing affordability issue in metro Atlanta.
Community Ownership and Innovation
In a unique model, residents of Union Park Cottages will also hold equity shares in the coffee shop on-site, granting them a stake in the local business.
In addition to the coffee shop, a tech lab will be part of the development, providing digital resources for residents and the wider community.
This development follows the success of Washington’s South Park Cottages in College Park, which became the first Black-owned micro-home community in Atlanta.
The homes, priced between $190,000 and $230,000, sold out before officially hitting the market, according to Business Insider.
A Response to Atlanta’s Housing Market
Union Park Cottages is set to launch at a time when the average home price in Atlanta exceeds $430,000.
While Techie Homes emphasizes that their goal is accessible homeownership, Washington has previously distanced his efforts from being labeled as affordable housing.
“We change the way we view environments, and if we change the way we view environments, we’ll change the actual person and how they grow,” Washington explained in a video clip, according to AfroTech.
“That’s the reason why I don’t adopt to affordable housing projects, because if you put people of all the same incomes in the same place, they will only see what that other person’s low income provided.
“So you have to have a mixture of community that does adopt for people in different income levels, because they need to experience life and examples of all types so they can grow up in balance.”
Feature Image Credit: ClicheMag
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