Downtown Atlanta District Developments

[Kenneth Disraili-Jean]

Seems that there's a new "vision" for the "The Gulch" in Downtown Atlanta.

Here's the AJC Article

Thank God they are going to seal up that hole like a tomb that is decades old and finally we won't have to look down at all the railroad lines running below Downtown Atlanta any longer!!!

[Martinman]

From this week's Business Chronicle, a developer is planning a 152-suite Staybridge Suites hotel with four condominiums at the top of the building and space for a restaurant and retail stores. The site is the southeast corner of Courtland St and Linden Ave. Construction is expected to begin late this year.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Martinman

[eastatlanta119]

Anything to rescue Courtland Street from the pedestrian hell it is will be greatly welcomed.

[Kenneth Disraili-Jean]

I just received the February issue of Atlanta Magazine today and the cover is quite spectacular regarding Downtown Atlanta!!

I reads as follows:

New Residents! New Restaurants!

New Reason to Head...

DOWNTOWN

[Martinman]

Central Atlanta Progress has updated their downtown development map, including some new (to me) projects

- Post Allen Plaza Phase II: 200 Residential Units, 200,000 SF Office, 50,000 SF Retail. This will be on the northern half of the Museum Tower block.

- Park Plaza: 376 Hotel Rooms, 90 Residential Units, 130,500 SF Office. This is at the corner of COP Drive and Harris St. Finally! some development on the east side of the park.

What the map shows as Centennial Park East is now Centennial Vista. Also the land where the Atlantis condo was proposed was sold to Luckie Street Partners so the Hard Rock hotel project replaces the Atlantis proposal.

Downtown Development pdf

Edited January 28, 2008 by Martinman

[eastatlanta119]

Cool I never heard about the plans to turn the Flatiron Building into a boutel! Fairlie Poplar is my favorite part of downtown, so the more street activity the better. It has such a more intimate scale compared to Portman projects or the Park.

[atlrvr]

What the map shows as Centennial Park East is now Centennial Vista. Also the land where the Atlantis condo was proposed was sold to Luckie Street Partners so the Hard Rock hotel project replaces the Atlantis proposal.

Whew....when I read this the first 2 times, I thought you were saying the Aquarius project was scrapped....from a skyscraper enthusiast/aesthetics point of view, I love that project....speaking of which...any word?

[Martinman]

Whew....when I read this the first 2 times, I thought you were saying the Aquarius project was scrapped....from a skyscraper enthusiast/aesthetics point of view, I love that project....speaking of which...any word?

A little blurb in the paper a couple of weeks ago said that Aquarius was delayed because of design changes and the developer is waiting to get TAD funds. Work could get underway as soon as this spring and I hear they have financing already in place.

Edited January 28, 2008 by Martinman

[Martinman]

More potentially great news for Downtown...

Gov. Sonny Perdue wants the state to spend $26.5 million next year to turn the old World of Coca-Cola building next to Underground Atlanta into a state history museum and to start remaking much of Capitol Hill into a car-free pedestrian corridor. The money, proposed by Perdue in his budget plan for the 2009 fiscal year that begins July 1, would pay for renovating the Coca-Cola building and also would provide design money for the other projects.

In addition to the new museum, the plan tentatively includes:

> Closing Mitchell Street next to the Capitol and turning it into a pedestrian plaza.

> Tearing down the Department of Transportation building at Mitchell Street and Capitol Avenue and building a parking facility.

> Rerouting Capitol Avenue through what is now a parking lot and deck across from the Capitol.

> Adding a pedestrian bridge over I-75/I-85 to connect a huge new lawn area in front of the Capitol with a new park along Memorial Drive.

And from the Downtown map, I guess this really cool Castleberry Hill project is now called Markham Lofts

Edited January 28, 2008 by Martinman

[teshadoh]

What went over Perdue? I'm amazed - at least he will make one positive contribution to Georgia. Especially a state history museum.

[Martinman]

^^ And unlike last year, he actually mentioned the word transportation in his state of the state address. Yes miracles do happen.

The AJC reports that like Aquarius, Barry is also waiting on TAD funds to proceed with Post Park @ 16 Allen Plaza (463 apartments / 229-room Aloft Hotel) and 24 Allen Plaza (350,000 sf office tower w/ a Publix). If they can get TAD funding they can start on Post Park early this year. 24 Allen Plaza would proceed when they sign an anchor tenant.

Edit: I forgot to mention that everything was held up by a lawsuit challenging the beltline TAD funding. The Georgia Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on the lawsuit by the end of March.

Edited January 30, 2008 by Martinman

[j.midtown]

More potentially great news for Downtown...

Gov. Sonny Perdue wants the state to spend $26.5 million next year to turn the old World of Coca-Cola building next to Underground Atlanta into a state history museum and to start remaking much of Capitol Hill into a car-free pedestrian corridor. The money, proposed by Perdue in his budget plan for the 2009 fiscal year that begins July 1, would pay for renovating the Coca-Cola building and also would provide design money for the other projects.

In addition to the new museum, the plan tentatively includes:

> Closing Mitchell Street next to the Capitol and turning it into a pedestrian plaza.

> Tearing down the Department of Transportation building at Mitchell Street and Capitol Avenue and building a parking facility.

> Rerouting Capitol Avenue through what is now a parking lot and deck across from the Capitol.

> Adding a pedestrian bridge over I-75/I-85 to connect a huge new lawn area in front of the Capitol with a new park along Memorial Drive.

I don't know who originated either, but the museum and the Capitol Lawn concepts existed before Perdue's budget plan proposal. The museum is included in the CAP Greenline plan and a version of the Lawn concept complete with capping the connector there is displayed on a map in the Greenline Exec Summary document - pg 3 of the pdf at the lower right.

[Martinman]

I don't know who originated either, but the museum and the Capitol Lawn concepts existed before Perdue's budget plan proposal. The museum is included in the CAP Greenline plan and a version of the Lawn concept complete with capping the connector there is displayed on a map in the Greenline Exec Summary document - pg 3 of the pdf at the lower right.

True, I read somewhere that the idea of a Washington Mall-like greenspace over the connector originated when Jimmy Carter was governor. Perdue's proposal however includes money for design of a pedestrian bridge. This may be different than capping the connector with a park.

I think the state bought the old Coke museum last year with a state museum in mind.

Edited February 1, 2008 by Martinman

[Martinman]

I was just thinking that with the two apartment projects scheduled to start this year, Allen Plaza will have some pretty good residential density for an area where there was basically nothing a few years ago.

Post Park 463 units

Centennial Vista 418 units

existing or U/C:

Twelve 517

Centennial House 101

Museum Tower 167

W Downtown 70

Edited February 2, 2008 by Martinman

[Martinman]

From the Business Chronicle...

The three lower levels of the old Macy's building, totaling 185,000 square feet, is now under contract for some kind of retail development. They mention that this is about the size requirement of several big-box retailers that are searching the city for space such as Life Time Fitness, Target, and Fry's Electronics but the space could also be divided into several smaller units.

Although Fry's has a great following and would probably be a destination store for all intown areas, I think Target is the only one that is even remotely possible at this point. I guess we'll see.

Edited February 2, 2008 by Martinman

[GaTechGuy]

I'm not even sure that Target would fly there. The one in Atlantic Station is just a few minutes away.

[Martinman]

I'm not even sure that Target would fly there. The one in Atlantic Station is just a few minutes away.

Similar to the way theres a Target on Peachtree in Buckhead and at Lindbergh. Residential density is the key.

I don't know if the numbers are there yet but I definatley think its possible in a few years at least.

[j.midtown]

Similar to the way theres a Target on Peachtree in Buckhead and at Lindbergh. Residential density is the key.

I don't know if the numbers are there yet but I definatley think its possible in a few years at least.

Don't forget the one at North Druid Hills and Briarcliff. They form a triangle that's no more than 3 miles from each other on each side.

[Martinman]

-The Business Chronicle is reporting that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scouting downtown Atlanta office buildings for at least 100,000 square feet of space, where it can consolidate and expand its workforce.

The NRC could add up to 200 high-paying jobs here over the next four years as it boosts its number of inspectors -- a direct response to more utility companies investing in nuclear power plants.

-Melaver Inc. recently paid $6 million for 0.32 of an acre at 135 Andrew Young International Boulevard across from Centennial Park. The speculation is that this is part of an assemblage for an unknown project.

Edited February 15, 2008 by Martinman

[atlrvr]

I not so good news, Barry is expected to get significantly less TADS for Allen Plaza than they originally expected, based on both a Supreme Court ruling and a redistribution of funds by city agencies.....I'm thinking its something like only 10%-20% of what they requested would be possible.

[Martinman]

Pictures of the Ellis Hotel

[Andrea]

I not so good news, Barry is expected to get significantly less TADS for Allen Plaza than they originally expected, based on both a Supreme Court ruling and a redistribution of funds by city agencies.....I'm thinking its something like only 10%-20% of what they requested would be possible.

It's hard for me to understand how TAD money (i.e., tax subsidies) is appropriate for a project like Allen Plaza. TAD's are only authorized for debilitated areas where private investment isn't feasible. Downtown Atlanta, and particularly the area around Allen Plaza, has been some of the priciest and most exclusive real estate in the city for many years. It's been the consistent focus of city leadership and has the best urban infrastructure in Atlanta. And Allen Plaza itself is an extremely upscale project pitched to the same silk stocking tenants who already occupy downtown, midtown and Buckhead, and the rents in all three areas are virtually identical.

I'm strongly in favor of TAD's as a financing mechanism for depressed and abandoned areas but it hardly seems appropriate to use public funds to support high-flying real estate deals for big time corporate tenants and developers in the ritziest areas of town.

[Martinman]

Actually the Business Chronicle did a report on all the markets a few weeks ago and Downtown has easily the lowest average office rent in the city and is comparable to some suburban markets where it is MUCH less expensive to develop. I'll see if I can find the data online. At any rate the cost of land has long been a hinderance to development Downtown and is not indicative of any sort of strength in the market.

Reguardless of the end use of the development or the type of tenants in the building, the concept remains the same. The city funds the infrastructure portion of the project with the increased in the tax revenue in exchange for developing here, as opposed to say in the suburbs. The tax digest increases and the office space or condos adds some much needed life to the market.

Edited February 24, 2008 by Martinman

[Andrea]

At any rate the cost of land has long been a hinderance to development Downtown and is not indicative of any sort of strength in the market.

It's hard for me to see the wisdom of diverting school tax money to help developers defray artificially inflated land prices.

The Georgia Redevelopment Powers Law was enacted to allow municipalities to facilitate the redevelopment of blighted or economically depressed areas. Land that will bring several million dollars an acre hardly qualifies as blighted or economically depressed. Developers (in some cases the same developers) in midtown, Buckhead and Perimeter pay similar prices and don't get subsidies.

ETA: Just to clarify, I'm a huge booster of downtown Atlanta, and also a big fan of TAD's. But I'm still hard pressed to understand how an ultra high end project like Allen Plaza, located in one of the most desirable parts of the city and geared to silk stocking clients like mega accounting and law firms, in an area that already has the best urban infrastructure in town, needs to be subsidized with school taxes. Similar projects around the city are done all the time without taxpayer funding.

Edited February 25, 2008 by Andrea

[Martinman]

I think the urban infrastructure you mentioned is the reason land costs remain high in the CBD. All the more reason why more development should be focused there.

Similar projects around the city are done all the time in stronger submarkets without taxpayer funding.