03/11/2026
Giving back just a bit of God's blessings. Great Job TI and Team
He knew that shopping center as a child. He came back as an adult and turned it into something his community actually needed...
In November 2023, rapper T.I., born Clifford Harris, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Intrada Westside — his first affordable housing development — in northwest Atlanta. The complex, located on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway near the Center Hill neighborhood where he grew up, sits on the site of a former Kmart and grocery store that closed years before. Developers noted that it was a shopping center where T.I.'s grandmother used to take him as a kid.
The development includes 143 apartments, with 25 of those units specifically set aside as permanent supportive housing for homeless youth — complete with rental subsidies and on-site support services. The project was built in partnership with the Vecino Group, a national affordable housing developer, and backed by a $15 million tax-exempt bond and $1 million in grants from Invest Atlanta, the city's economic development agency. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens attended the opening, describing it as part of a larger push to deliver thousands of affordable homes across the city. T.I. told media at the event, "The arts and entertainment industry in this city has been able to collaborate and, I guess, be profitable enough to offer the community so many things that are much needed."
What makes this story land differently is the land itself. T.I. purchased the 7.52-acre site years earlier and held it, waiting for the right development — one that would genuinely give back rather than just gentrify. The 25 units for homeless youth were not an afterthought. They were written into the partnership agreement from the beginning.
A lot of artists talk about buying back the block. This one actually did it.