{ February 1st, 2011 }
LaFarge Ready To Leave BeltLine?
Huge, huge happenings on the Southeast corridor of the Atlanta BeltLine. The LaFarge concrete facility- located directly across the street from Glenwood Park- has been put up for sale. The French building supply company has finally decided to part with their 20+ acre facility, located on the North side of Glenwood Avenue.
The sale could have major implications for this critical segment of the BeltLine. Taking out of service what is essentially a parking lot for cement mixers and replacing it with smart development is never a bad thing. With the LaFarge site is bounded by Maynard Jackson High School on one side, and the brand new ENSO apartment complex on the other, one starts to see how this once industrial stretch of Glenwood is beginning to look a lot like a neighborhood.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning of good things to come. There is still one mighty big domino left to fall: LaFarge’s concrete plant that sits just on the other side of Glenwood. That parcel- while also pretty sizable- is perhaps most noteworthy for its dependence on rail. Several times a week, trains hurdle through Ormewood Park and Boulevard Heights shuttling materials to and fro’. One can only hope that as BeltLine momentum builds, the freight trains are replaced by bikes, runners, strollers, green space and good cheer.
