Site activity, permits suggest towering ‘Midtown Union’ project is a go

Multi-tower development aims to activate parking lots at corner of Spring, 17th streets

The latest rendering for Midtown Union’s multifaceted first phase, with glassy office towers at left and residential/hotel pieces at right.

For anyone who applauds the demise of surface parking lots in prominent intown places, a reader recently spotted something that should come as welcome news.

Where 17th meets Spring Street in Midtown, a block-long site where past development proposals have fizzled, an assemblage of parking lots is now fenced off and vehicle access is disallowed.

Proposed for the site is the first phase of the massive Midtown Union project, a multi-tower complex bisected by a pedestrian promenade that’s been put forth by MetLife and JLL.

Project reps haven’t responded today to Curbed Atlanta’s inquires regarding construction, but a building permit related to plumbing and sewer work was issued for the site in late June, city records show.

The 1.3-million-square-foot project’s first phase was approved last year.

The site’s inaccessible parking lots, as of this morning.

The assembled site includes parking lots along Spring Street, behind the Artmore Hotel, the Arthritis Foundation building, and a small office building.

All told, the two-phase venture could consume acreage on both sides of the street.

Earlier this year, Midtown Union signed global asset management firm Invesco to take about half of its 600,000 square feet of offices in glassy towers fronting 17th Street.

The office towers, as seen from the northwest.

For Invesco, the relocation across Midtown from Two Peachtree Pointe will also entail the addition of about 500 jobs, as Bisnow Atlanta first reported.

Midtown Union’s first phase would also include a 250-key hotel, about 350 residences, 100,000 square feet of retail, and almost 1,800 parking spaces, per announcements last year.

The development team, a partnership between MetLife Investment Management and Granite Properties, expects to start opening Midtown Union in 2022.

Have a look at the latest project renderings and site plans below.