Parkside Partners Plans an Overhaul on West Peachtree St

Parkside Partners, known for its loft office projects across Atlanta, plans a $12 million overhaul of a forgotten 3-story building on West Peachtree Street — which happens to sit amid nearly $1 billion worth of planned development. Parkside Partners has reached an agreement with the building’s owner, Providence Bank, to buy and redevelop the property, which stands at the corner of West Peachtree and 16th Street next to the former Trump Towers site.

West Ptree Building

Parkside Partners will call the project 16th Station, and renovations would begin once the developer lands a tenant to anchor the 40,000-square-foot building. The redesign, led by architect MSTSD Inc., would aim for a building with a character and feel like those in the Westside Provisions District.

Parkside Partners joins other developers embracing the adaptive reuse trend, as what vacant land remains within the intown Atlanta neighborhoods continues to climb back to pre-Recession prices, and construction costs for new buildings soar well over $400 a foot. Rents in existing trophy buildings, meanwhile, are rising to some of the highest levels in years, forcing more tenants to consider less expensive alternatives.

Parkside also likes all the projects planned on the northern end of West Peachtree. Consider that MARTA is seeking developers for its mixed-use project at Arts Center station, at 15th and West Peachtree. Nearby, MetLife has assembled more than eight where it’s planning a large mixed-use development. Next door to 16th Station, AMLI Residential is developing a tower on a 1.8-acre site at 15th and West Peachtree Streets. And, several transportation improvements are also in the works, including converting West Peachtree into a two-way street, which could turn the corridor into less of a thoroughfare and create the opportunity for more street-level retail.

Written by Douglas Sams for Atlanta Business Chronicle

Atlanta Eyeing Conversion of Homeless Shelter

The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to take the first step toward potentially converting a controversial homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine streets into a facility for police and fire department operations. Council members voted 13-1 to spend $50,000 on a feasibility study of turning over the building to the police and fire departments, a process that will include a title search and an appraisal of the property.

homeless shelter

The city, Central Atlanta Progress Inc. and other parties have been trying for years to evict the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless from the building. A lawsuit accuses the task force of failing to make payments on the property and of “warehousing” homeless people. However, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling last month granting the task force the right to have a jury decide whether an attempt to foreclose on the property was illegal.

Supporters including the task force’s leaders, pleaded with council members before Monday’s vote not to shut down what one speaker described as the largest homeless shelter in the South. One-quarter of the homeless people currently housed there are women and children, task force Executive Director Anita Beaty said. “We need your help to protect the women, children and men who live with us every day,” she said.

Councilwoman Felicia Moore, who voted against the ordinance, questioned the wisdom of the city getting involved in an ongoing court case. But Councilman Alex Wan, chairman of the Finance/Executive Committee, said the ordinance simply provides for a feasibility study. Before any acquisition of the property by the city could go forward, the issue would have to return to the council, he said. Indeed, the council approved an amendment introduced by Moore prohibiting any sale of the property to the city without council approval.

Written by Dave Williams for Atlanta Business Chronicle

Picture Source: Byron E. Small

Midtown Hotel Sold to Make Way for More

North Point Hospitality Group has unloaded its dual-branded Midtown hotel to pave the way for $155M in new hotel projects in the Southeast. The Atlanta-based hotel developer sold its Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites Atlanta Midtown hotel, a 228-unit hotel off 10th Street to NY-based Carey Watermark Investors for an undisclosed sum. “We continue to be optimistic about the Atlanta market and our growing presence there,” says North Point CEO Jay Patel. “The timing of the sale was such that it represented significant value for both buyer and seller.”

Dual Hotel

Patel says the sale “paves the way for our future development plans. By year end, we expect to break ground on four hotels in the Southeast.” That includes some 605 rooms and a total development cost pipeline of $155M, he says. Patel did not disclose specific hotels, but the firm is opening its 162-unit Homewood Suites in Savannah’s Riverfront historic district this summer—part of a larger River Street East mixed-use development that will include hotels, retail and dining space for $150M. The firm also announced in April that it will develop a $120M tri-branded Marriott hotel in Nashville, including AC Hotel by Marriott, Residence Inn and SpringHill Suites, totaling more than 400 rooms.

Svannah HOtel

 

Written by Jarred Schenke for Bisnow ATL

It’s Selig’s Olde Bar Now

One of Atlanta’s founding real estate families has bought one of the city’s most popular bars. Selig Enterprises has purchased the retail center occupied by Smith’s Olde Bar for more than $3M, according to Databank.

Seligs olde bar

The property, called Morningside Strip Center, consists of nearly 18k SF of retail and another 27,400 SF of land, and has been owned by the estate of Beverly Taylor for more than 90 years. City Realty Advisors’ Tim Holdroyd brokered the sale. “We already have a substantial investment in the area, including Ansley Mall and Ansley II, and this seemed like a natural fit,” Selig CEO Steve Selig says in an emailed statement to us. The center made headlines earlier this year when it was put up for sale, casting a cloud of uncertainty over the fate of the popular Atlanta music venue on the northwest corner of Piedmont Avenue and Monroe Drive. Sources say the owners of Smith’s have signed a short-term renewal. Steve tells us, “Our plan is to improve the premises, work with the owners of Smith’s Olde Bar and lease the balance of the property.” Calls to the Smith’s owners were not returned as of press time. For Selig, the buy represents an opportunity to redo a portion of a prime Atlanta corner just across from Ansley Mall into an urban retail or entertainment complex.

Written by Jarred Schenke for Bisnow ATL

Midtown boom continues with 16 active construction projects

The Midtown boom continues with 16 active construction projects underway, according to a report from the Midtown Alliance. The majority of the projects are mixed-use residential apartments and condo buildings that will add 4,000-plus residential units and 100,000 square feet of retail space to the district.

Midtown Developments map

On the office side, construction crews have begun work on Fortune 500 company NCR’s global headquarters at Spring Street and 8th Street, placing the tech giant near Georgia Tech’s Technology Square. Construction is anticipated to be finished in 2018, and once completed, will add 500,000-plus square feet of office space and labs.

Several projects were completed this year, including two new major residential developments—University House Midtown and Square on Fifth—which moved 1,300 students into the heart of Tech Square during the summer of 2015. The Center for Puppetry Arts also wrapped up the 8,000 square foot expansion of their Spring Street location, making room for new cultural attraction the Worlds of Puppetry Museum and the most comprehensive collection of Jim Henson-designed puppets.

As the year comes to a close, just shy of 40 development projects are now either under construction or in design, having cleared the Midtown Development Review Committee (DRC). Among these are a dual-branded hotel on 14th Street at Peachtree Walk, a Whole Foods store, the redevelopment and expansion of SCAD’s student housing campus Spring House, and a collection of mixed-use residential buildings that range from a 28-story tower to a 4-story infill project.

To see a list and renderings of all the projects, take a look at the Midtown Alliance’s handy Development Tour.

-Written by Collin Kelley for Intown Atlanta