Developer Hunts for Section 8 Acquisitions

ATLANTA—Locally-based Markevitch Property Acquisition has partnered with JMP Holdings, NextGen Real Capital and Legacy Builders Seven to acquire King’s Glen apartments here.

Their plan is to turn approximately one-third to half of the 36 units over to Atlanta Housing Authority for the HUD voucher Section 8 program.

“The idea is to provide much needed housing for the voucher holders who oftentimes can’t find any place to take their vouchers and so don’t have adequate housing,” says MPA owner Ro Marketvitch. “Our goal is responsible improvements without over-done gentrification in Atlanta’s historic neighborhoods and to provide housing to those with the greatest need.”

Markevitch tells GlobeSt.com that there is a “humongous” need for this type of housing in Atlanta.

“One of my contacts at Atlanta Housing Authority tells me that recently a complex of 50 units opened up for the voucher program, and for those 50 units, they had 30,000 applicants,” she says. “That’s just mind-blowing.”

Markevitch plans to engineer similar deals. She has one in the works with a similar property and will be looking for other opportunities, including areas in coastal Florida. She says being a responsible developer and paying attention to the needs of the community and the families that live in each neighborhood is paramount to her personal mission to provide housing options to Atlanta families.

Markevitch has a background as an instructional designer for Google and other tech companies, but she has focused on housing development for 20 years as well. She turned her attention to multifamily in 2019. She says she plans to specialize in similar housing deals.

Markevitch will be re-branding King’s Glen to The Pearl later this year.

“I’m very passionate about providing housing that is well-kept and affordable to those that most need it in the Atlanta area,” she says.