Historic Atlanta hotel once listed in Green Book transformed into affordable housing
A building that once offered Black travelers a safe place to stay during segregation is beginning a new chapter, more than 70 years after it opened in West Atlanta.
The Waluhaje Hotel opened in 1951 under Walter H. "Chief" Aiken. The hotel became one of Atlanta's destinations listed in the "Green Book," the travel guide that helped Black Americans find hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that would welcome them during segregation.
The hotel also became a gathering place for the Black community. Its ballroom hosted events and celebrations, 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 at the Waluhaje during the 1950s. A telegram from 1953 documents Marshall's connection to the property.
For 79-year-old Janice Milner, however, the building's history is also personal. Milner grew up in a house directly across from the hotel and remembers the neighborhood during the Waluhaje's heyday.
Tarnace Watkins also has a family connection to the property. Watkins said his parents traveled from Rome, Georgia, and spent time at the Waluhaje, including attending events in its ballroom.
The property eventually served other purposes, including housing the Job Corps, before another transformation began.
Today, the former hotel is part of Heritage Village at West Lake, a development by Quest Communities that preserves a piece of the property's history while creating affordable housing.
The development includes 102 one-bedroom affordable apartments along with supportive services and workforce training. The housing is targeted to residents earning around 30% of the area median income, and some apartments will serve Atlantans who have experienced homelessness.
Leonard L. Adams Jr., founder and CEO of Quest Communities, said the development is designed to provide more than a place to live by connecting residents with services intended to help them build stability.
Twenty-four units are reserved as permanent supportive housing for young adults ages 18 to 24 who are aging out of foster care.
The redevelopment connects two different chapters of Atlanta history: a hotel that provided refuge and community for Black travelers when segregation limited where they could safely stay, and a housing development intended to provide stability for Atlantans today.
Quest Communities plans to celebrate the development with a ribbon-cutting in October.
