Preserving the Past, Housing the Future: Heritage Village @ West Lake
Updated: 7 hours ago
Some buildings simply hold people. Others hold memory, and a community's hope for what comes next. Heritage Village @ West Lake on Atlanta's Westside, is both.
A landmark with a story worth keeping
The building opened in 1951 as the Waluhaje Hotel and Apartments, during the era of segregation. It became a trusted place for Black travelers and residents, and it earned a listing in the Green Book, the guide that helped Black Americans find safe lodging and welcoming businesses. Its ballroom hosted celebrations and some of the era's top jazz performers, and civil rights history passed through its doors. Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, spoke there in the 1950s.
In later years the property served as the Atlanta Job Corps Center. It then sat vacant for years, a landmark waiting for a purpose. QuestCDC and its partners chose to preserve it rather than let it fade.
Housing for those who need it most
Heritage Village @ West Lake is a 102-unit affordable housing community. The apartments are designed for households earning around 30 percent of the area median income, and some will serve Atlantans who have experienced homelessness. That focus is deliberate.
QuestCDC believes community rebuilding should start with the most vulnerable, hard-to-reach, and lowest-income neighbors, the people the housing market most often leaves behind.
For Atlanta's Westside, where rising costs continue to put pressure on longtime residents, housing at this level of affordability is not a luxury. It is a lifeline.
More than a roof: services that build stability
Housing is the foundation, but stability takes more than four walls. Heritage Village pairs its apartments with supportive services, workforce training, and health care access, so residents can find footing and move toward long-term success.
The Urban League of Greater Atlanta brings workforce development, financial empowerment, and economic opportunity to the development. Mercy Care, the project's health care partner, is planning a future clinic on site. Together, these partners help ensure residents are supported in the areas that matter most: income, health, and financial security.
Built through partnership
Heritage Village reflects years of shared vision. QuestCDC developed the project with Columbia Residential and Atlanta Housing, in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, Mercy Care, and Partners for HOME. That coalition shows what is possible when nonprofit, public, and private partners commit to the same goal. Public leaders have taken notice as well, including Congresswoman Nikema Williams, who joined the conversation about the development's impact alongside Nancy Flake Johnson and Leonard L. Adams Jr.
Honoring the past, investing in the future
The story of Heritage Village is about continuity. A building that once offered Black Atlantans dignity and a place to gather now offers affordable homes, opportunity, and care to a new generation of Westside residents.
For QuestCDC, that is the heart of the work: preserving what is meaningful while building what is needed. Heritage Village @ West Lake shows that a community's history and its future do not have to compete. Done right, they strengthen each other.
