ATLANTA — At a Thursday meeting, the Atlanta BeltLine Board of Directors and Invest Atlanta approved the BeltLine’s largest budget to date.
For the 2025 fiscal year, the Atlanta BeltLine will have a budget of $172 million, which includes funding that will allow the organization to push past its 5,600-unit affordable housing goal.
The BeltLine said in a release that their goal was to have all 5,600 units by 2030, and with the new funding it will be able to exceed that benchmark.
The funding will also allow the organization to complete the construction of a 22-mile corridor of trails by 2030, according to officials.
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The organization said the $172 million budget is a 12% boost over the current one, and will let them exceed the 5,600-unit affordable housing goal by roughly 30%, with funding included to buy land parcels needed for trail completion.
“This is a historic and exciting time for Atlanta BeltLine as we get closer to completing the trail while meeting important goals,” Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. President and CEO Clyde Higgs said in a statement. “For us, the BeltLine is all about the people and the experience. The people-powered project is a destination for cultural connection, quality of life and economic equity. Supported by our new budget, we will exceed our goals for affordable housing, accelerate the pace for trail work and invest in more economic opportunities for all.”
One goal the Atlanta BeltLine has for the next few years of development is to complete more than 16 miles of trail before the FIFA World Cup arrives in Atlanta in 2026.
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By June 2026, the fiscal year 2025 budget will allow the completion of 85% of the mainline trail, for an overall length of 17.5 miles, according to the organization.
Of the overall miles completed, 16.3 miles will be a continuous paved trail from Westside Park to Piedmont Park, from the Blandtown neighborhood in northeast Atlanta, going around the southside of Atlanta to Piedmont Heights in the northeast, Atlanta BeltLine said.
The budget also has funds for small business grant and incubator programs and an extension of the Business Solutions Center, which helps small, startup and disadvantaged businesses to open and grow in areas along the BeltLine.
“The top three areas of the total BeltLine FY25 budget are design and construction at 49%, real estate at 23% and affordable housing at 12%,” officials said.
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