Atlanta already is one of the best places to launch, scale and grow a business, and now Mayor Andre Dickens has announced a new initiative to support his vision to make our city the best place to raise a child.
 
The Atlanta Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative is simple as it is powerful, with a goal to create whole, healthy, thriving and connected neighborhoods. It’s a commitment to equity, access and opportunity that involves investing in people (families, youth and workers) and place (housing, transit, food and public spaces).
 
Atlanta Tax Allocation Districts, better known as TADs, are the number one funding mechanism that will make this inspiring initiative a reality. TADs are designed to accelerate neighborhood reinvestment by adding private capital to public investment – multiplying the economic impact. They also offer the unique and critical benefit of providing gap funding to get neighborhood projects that deliver meaningful community impact off the ground faster.
 
Atlanta has eight active TADs, which are used to create and preserve affordable housing, support construction of infrastructure, strengthen small businesses and improve streets, parks and places of historic and cultural significance among other community benefits. Each TAD has a redevelopment plan that guides TAD investment decisions in the communities it serves.
 
TADs maximize impact by leveraging private investment. For every dollar of TAD funding, $12 of private investment is created. Even more powerful is their long-term impact. Since the first TAD opened in 1992, TADs have generated over $41.6 billion in economic impact, produced more than 46,000 jobs for city residents, and created or preserved over 17,000 housing units with one-third designated as affordable.
 
Atlantans know Atlantic Station but may not realize that TAD funding made it happen. Once the site of the Atlantic Steel Mill, the area had become a toxic, abandoned brownfield by the late 1990s. Through a TAD investment, Atlantic Station was transformed into a vibrant mixed-use community. The land’s assessed value skyrocketed from $7 million in 1999 to $843 million in 2024. The redevelopment created approximately 20,000 jobs, removed 165,000 tons of contaminated soil, recycled 150,000 cubic yards of concrete and built the 17th Street bridge.
 
Another community that has seen transformative change is Princeton Lakes in Southwest Atlanta. Over its two-decade lifespan, the Princeton Lakes TAD generated over $275 million in economic impact in a historically underinvested area. TAD investments financed the construction of more than 12,000 housing units, with more than 40% designated as affordable, 92,000 square feet of medical office space, 460,000 square feet of retail commercial space, two hotels and a fire station.
 
The Mayor’s Atlanta Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative focuses on seven disinvested neighborhoods across Atlanta. Each of these areas is located near areas of opportunity and growth and possess valuable public and private resources. And, with help from TAD financing, they have the potential to spark continued transformation that will benefit all of Atlanta.
 
This is the value of a TAD, and this is how we will continue to achieve progress.

Dr. Eloisa Klementich, CEcD
Invest Atlanta, President & CEO