Amid the economic gloom of 2011, Atlanta-watchers found some measure of respite in Midtown. The district broke ground on a 12-floor dual-branded hotel on 10th street, and two new highrise apartments were announced, just a couple blocks apart from each other. A mile down Ponce, City Hall East was finally being converted to the live/work/play development long envisioned by city leaders.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle proclaimed in June that “Midtown has momentum”, and that “it might be the fastest recovering of all the metro region’s business centers.”
Now, with most of Midtown’s developments off the ground and little appearing to be in the pipeline, it might be Buckhead’s turn in the spotlight.
Boosted by the strongest 2011 office absorption in the metro, a new 10-floor office building will be constructed at 3330 Peachtree Street, one block south of the Buckhead MARTA Station. In the mid-2000s this sort of building would have been nothing to write home about, but in this economic climate it will be one of the highest-profile office projects in the metro.
Although not on the level of Midtown’s new highrises, Buckhead has two substantial apartment complexes under construction, about a mile to the south of 3330 Peachtree Street.
The projects include a 9-floor apartment highrise next to the St. Regis Hotel, and a 5-floor midrise on Pharr Road.
Perhaps biggest development of 2012 came this morning with the announcement that Buckhead Atlanta–a major mixed use project right in between the two above apartment developments–would finally continue after years of inactivity. The project isn’t going to be making any major progress for the time being; instead, OliverMcMillan will start “pre-construction” work–preparation, demolition, and so forth. Still, the project is integral to the landscape of Buckhead Village, and perhaps now there is light at the end of the tunnel.
All of the above projects probably aren’t enough to put Buckhead on top of Midtown, but at least there is a healthy rivalry once again.
Finally, a nugget a couple months ago suggested that a new office tower in Alliance Center was in the works. To date, no further progress or corroborating news is available.
