The Morehouse and Spelman glee clubs have performed together at Christmas since 1927. Students have shared classes, programs and a brother-sister tradition across the Atlanta University Center for generations.
Now some of them will have another kind of shared space: an apartment community beside their campuses.
Construction is underway at 850 West End Ave. SW, across from Morehouse’s B.T. Harvey Stadium. The Den at Eight50 West is planned to open for the fall 2028 semester. It would be the first residential community developed for students of both colleges, according to the project’s developer, Radnor Property Group. That history makes the project distinctive. Whether students can afford to live there is the question still waiting for an answer.
What is being built
The Den is planned for 793 beds in 305 apartment-style units, with studios and one-, two- and four-bedroom layouts. Plans include study rooms, lounges on every floor, a fitness room, outdoor recreation space, bike storage, a dog run and a lobby staffed around the clock. Radnor says construction began in July 2026, ahead of the ceremonial groundbreaking in October. Fall 2028 remains the occupancy target, not an announced move-in day. Radnor’s project announcement.
Spelman says juniors and seniors from both colleges will receive priority for leasing. Priority does not mean other students have been ruled out. A full leasing policy has not been published.
The Den is also separate from the residence halls the colleges are developing on their own campuses. Morehouse has described its new hall as adding 324 beds. Spelman lists a planned 623-bed hall and says it will stop using Howard-Harreld and Manley as residence halls after that building opens. Those projects have different roles in the schools’ housing plans and should not be folded into The Den’s 793-bed count. Spelman’s construction plans.
The rent figure is not a rate sheet
Multi-Housing News reports that rent at The Den will be about $1,200 a month per bed. Radnor says its rents will average roughly 3 percent below the off-campus market.
Those are useful early figures, but neither tells a family what a particular bed will cost. There is no published rate sheet showing prices by apartment type, nor a lease package that lets students compare the total cost with a campus hall or another off-campus apartment.
That distinction matters. A price per bed is not a price for an entire apartment, and an average discount against the market does not tell a student whether the option fits their budget. Before leasing opens, families will need to know the actual rates, lease length, required fees and what is included in the rent.
How the project is financed
The approximately $147 million project did not receive a $147 million check from Fulton County.
In July 2026, the Development Authority of Fulton County issued about $146.8 million in taxable and tax-exempt bonds. The proceeds were loaned to a company under Madrone Community Development Foundation, the project’s nonprofit development partner. Develop Fulton’s fact sheet describes the authority as a conduit issuer and says the transaction has no impact on property taxes or liability for Fulton County or the authority.
That is still a public financing mechanism, but it is not the same as a county grant or a property-tax break. The colleges have a long-term stake as well: their joint entity, West End Avenue P3, LLC, entered into a 50-year land lease with Madrone for the project. Radnor is the lead development partner. Clark Construction and C.D. Moody Construction are managing the build together, and Moody Nolan is the architect. Develop Fulton estimates the project will support 350 construction jobs and 14 full-time positions once operating.
I think the hard work on this one is already done, and done cleanly, because a conduit bond that costs Fulton County nothing and puts 793 beds across the street from campus is a better outcome than most capacity problems get. What is unfinished is the part families will live with. Three percent below market is a sentence, not a rent, and juniors-and-seniors priority is a policy nobody has seen in writing. When leasing opens ahead of fall 2028, the questions are narrow and answerable: what does a four-bedroom bed cost, what does a studio cost, what is the lease term, and who exactly is eligible. Ask them before anybody signs.
