Allen Plaza

[Martinman]

Allen Plaza is slowly being revealed as much more than a collection of three or four office towers. We are learning that what Barry and Post have planned there will be a very dense, very urban neighborhood and will have a HUGE impact on the heart of the city.

An article in ULI detailed whats planned for Allen Plaza

- 2 million sf of office

- 2 hotels (500 total rooms)

- 2,500 - 3,000 residential units (in over a dozen high-rises)

- 200,000 sf of retail

I think it deserves its own thread as we follow its progress.

Webcam

30 Allen Plaza (completed)

55 Allen Plaza (under construction)

45 Allen Plaza (under construction)

50 Allen Plaza (proposed)

[Martinman]

Now details on the residential planned for Allen Plaza are beginning to emerge

The following description was posted by another forumer

"The Downtown Development Review Committee reviewed the first phase of Post Allen Plaza for the block bounded by West Peachtree Place, COP Drive, Simpson and Williams Street on Friday. I must confess that I was quite impressed,

The project is on a very tight site, but fortunately they hired a quality architecture firm - Cooper Carry that understands urbanism. As such, the plan relates well to the street on all block faces with first floor retail (that even steps down the hill), doors, attractive loading docks, a quality streetscape and new on-street parking.

The program includes a 202 room hotel, 175 condos, 350+/- apartments and 30,000 sf of retail and around 900 parking spaces (including public spaces).

The building is a tower on a podium typolgy. On top of the base is an "L" shaped tower that sets back slightly from the base. The long side of the "L" is parallel to Simpson Street. The tower is designed to look like two towers. The long leg of the "L" is a glass and precast "stone" tower rising 42 floors (450 feet +/-) above COP Drive, while the lower 19 (?) floor short leg is all glass. It is truly elegant; traditional yet with a contemporary flair.

The condos occupy the top floors of the long leg of the "L." Below them is the hotel. The short leg of the "L" is the apartment tower.

The best thing about this project is that, unlike every Novare project, the podium is NOT parking, so there are actually living units or hotel rooms facing the street on the base along COP Drive, Williams Street, Simpson Street and half of West Peachtree. The parking is underground and internal to the block, other than a small portion along West Peachtree Place. On said facade, the garage facade is no different from the rest of the building.

They plan to break ground in April on this block, and will be coming in soon for approval of more housing and retail on the block to the east. They also are developing plans for the other half of the Museum Tower block, as well as several other area blocks. "

[krazeeboi]

I just rode by this site tonite (I'm in Atlanta for the weekend) and I'm impressed with the progress, as well as that of the Centennial Twelve project not too far from it. I didn't realize the Southern Power building was a part of the Allen Plaza project. Can't wait to see how this project will shape up!

[teshadoh]

^ Southern Power was their first tenant, though Southern Power had anchored a tower just a few blocks from their current home. But of course - people like new offices, if they didn't their wouldn't be a need for at least a quarter of Atlanta's skyscrapers.

[krazeeboi]

^I believe it. Didn't 1180 Peachtree's tenants all relocate from existing towers that were perfectly OK?

[Andrea]

^I believe it. Didn't 1180 Peachtree's tenants all relocate from existing towers that were perfectly OK?

[Martinman]

Post @ Allen Plaza

[ironchapman]

It's great to see things shaping up down there like they have. So many good building plans. I can't wait to see them once they're built!

[krazeeboi]

Yeah, 191 Peachtree, which was arguably the city's premier office tower and is about twice the size of 1180 Peachtree, was occupied by two very large law firms and Wachovia Bank. Their relocation to Midtown was a tremendous boost to Midtown, but an equally serious blow to Downtown.

[AubieTurtle]

So will Allen Plaza have more new tenants than "shuffling" tenants?

[Andrea]

There was an interesting article in the Daily Report the other day about why law firms decide to locate inside or outside the Perimeter. A number of factors were considered, and interestingly enough cost didn't seem to be that high on the list, since suburban rents aren't really that much different. It seemed to me they were saying that the biggest consideration was convenience, not only for laywers but for staff as well.

Another issue they mentioned was prestige. It used to be that the city's most prestigious firms *had* to be near Five Points -- even Peachtree Center was considered too far north. (Y'all may have seen the comment I posted some time ago by the senior partner in a law firm who was told his firm would go out of business if they ventured as "far out" as Peachtree Center). In the past 15-20 years, the epicenter for the largest firms has shifted to Midtown, which has accounted for a large part of the office growth there.

However, the largest firms still represent a relatively small percentage of the legal industry, and there are a lot of people who are satisfied with going elsewhere. Buckhead has a lot of mid-sized firms, as do the Perimeter and Galleria areas.

I think it would help the downtown office market if there was more affordable housing nearby, including neighborhoods where people felt good about raising children. The big dogs will probably continue to live in Buckhead, but it takes a huge staff to keep these businesses going.

[krazeeboi]

Is it just me, or is Atlanta starting to develop an architectural style all its own, which really emphasizes glass (the Allen Plaza buildings, 1180 Peachtree, etc.)?

[Andrea]

Is it just me, or is Atlanta starting to develop an architectural style all its own, which really emphasizes glass (the Allen Plaza buildings, 1180 Peachtree, etc.)?

[krazeeboi]

I actually mean glass that is more or less transparent. I'm aware of the older buildings that emphasize glass, but the glass in those buildings tend to be more dark and opaque. I think maybe it's because I'm seeing the big, wide, transparent panes that are prevalent in 1180 Peachtree and the Southern Power building, and possibly the other Allen Plaza buildings (the W seems like it will have the same style). Charlotte has an abundance of modern architecture, but the buildings don't seem to emphasize the glass as much as the newer buildings I've seen in Atlanta. The condo towers popping up seem to do that though.

[AubieTurtle]

There was an interesting article in the Daily Report the other day about why law firms decide to locate inside or outside the Perimeter. A number of factors were considered, and interestingly enough cost didn't seem to be that high on the list, since suburban rents aren't really that much different. It seemed to me they were saying that the biggest consideration was convenience, not only for laywers but for staff as well.

Another issue they mentioned was prestige. It used to be that the city's most prestigious firms *had* to be near Five Points -- even Peachtree Center was considered too far north. (Y'all may have seen the comment I posted some time ago by the senior partner in a law firm who was told his firm would go out of business if they ventured as "far out" as Peachtree Center). In the past 15-20 years, the epicenter for the largest firms has shifted to Midtown, which has accounted for a large part of the office growth there.

However, the largest firms still represent a relatively small percentage of the legal industry, and there are a lot of people who are satisfied with going elsewhere. Buckhead has a lot of mid-sized firms, as do the Perimeter and Galleria areas.

I think it would help the downtown office market if there was more affordable housing nearby, including neighborhoods where people felt good about raising children. The big dogs will probably continue to live in Buckhead, but it takes a huge staff to keep these businesses going.

[Lady Celeste]

Is the Post development in Allen Plaza going to be a rental or purchase development. I really think that a nice highrise rental development in that area is overdue. It would give people a little squimish about intown living a chance to sample the lifestyle. If they like it, they can purchase one of the many condos either for sale or under construction in the area.

[AubieTurtle]

Is the Post development in Allen Plaza going to be a rental or purchase development. I really think that a nice highrise rental development in that area is overdue. It would give people a little squimish about intown living a chance to sample the lifestyle. If they like it, they can purchase one of the many condos either for sale or under construction in the area.

[Lady Celeste]

That's good to know because the center city seems to have a low amount of quality rental unit.l

[AubieTurtle]

The rental supply should make a rebound. For the past couple of years with interest rates so low, most people have chosen to buy instead of rent. Since this happened to coincide with the intown residential boom, you got mostly condos instead of apartments. Plus there were lots of condo conversions since the owners of the complexes were having trouble renting the units, conversion allowed them to cash out.

As rates go back up, more people who want to live in the city will decide to rent and that will create the required demand. It's probably a good thing for it to happen soon because many of these condo developments are experiencing significant friction between those in owner-occupied units and those that are being rented out. New apartments will hopefully take some of the rental demand out of the condo buildings and refocus it into the rental buildings.

[sunshine]

How is the prices of condo in downtown Atlanta? I know houses are cheap up there in the suburb.

[Lady Celeste]

How is the prices of condo in downtown Atlanta? I know houses are cheap up there in the suburb.

[Martinman]

Allen Plaza website did a rare update of the website which was to add the rendering of the W with a view of the north side.

[UrbanAtl]

I would like to see two retails additions added on either side of the motor court entrance for the W and office tower. It would hide that giant parking garage a little better and help create a more enjoyable street scene. That area of town is going to be awesome. It seems odd that the developer doesn

[AubieTurtle]

Like most renderings, the ones of the W are taking quite a few artistic liberties. For one, the buildings will not glow like that. This is a building in which people are going to sleep. You can expect that a large number of the rooms at any given time will have closed curtains, lights turned off, or lights of much lower illuminating levels than what you see here. Plaza Midtown for example is not easy to pick out of the skyline at night unless you are close to it. Residential buildings in general do not have large amount of exterior illumination because no one wants a spotlight shining in through their window when they are trying to sleep. Also large amounts of exterior illumination degrades the quality of the skyline view because the building lights cause ones pupils to get smaller which reduces the amount of light coming in from the skyline.

As far as the blue band up the side of the building goes, it is hard to tell just how much, if any, of it will be actually illuminated. It looks to be to be merely glass that is of a different color than the adjacent glass.

They also omit the concrete wall that seperates the sidewalk next to Spring Street from the ramps to the connector. The walk through that area is somewhat uncomfortable because the wall is too close to the side walk and gives a feeling of being trapped. Because of the large amount of foot traffic in the stretch of Spring from the homeless at the nearby Peachtree-Pine shelter, feeling trapped is that much worse. Unfortunately the guys from Peachtree-Pine tend to be the most aggressive of the homeless population. It is unlikely that there is going to be a lot of foot traffic up Spring Street to Midtown from people living or staying at the W. The fact that once you make it over the connector all you have greeting you is blocks of anti-pedestrian facades and parking decks doesn't help any. The only good thing in that stretch is Baltimore Row but because it is gated and off to the side, it doesn't help any. The backside of Twelve facing Spring isn't going to do much for the pedestrian experience either.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy with what is being built. It is great that so much of the parking is underground instead of creating a dead pedestal a story above the ground.

[Lady Celeste]

I'm sure everyone has seen somewhere the article in the ABC about Allen Plaza. What strikes me is that 50 Allen Plaza (potentially 48 stories) overlooking the Downtown Connecter (reportedly 450,000 cars past that location daily) would have naming rights. Talk about adverstisement to the max. Atlanta recieves alot of drive throughs from out of towners because of the convergence of I75/I85. I wonder could some F500 company be induced to relocated downtown (from either metro Atlanta or nationwide) to 50 Allen Plaza. Okay, I'm dreaming but it would be nice.