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ATLANTA-Bucking a trend to build high-rise residential condominium homes in the affluent Buckhead submarket, locally based Post Properties Inc. is investing $62 million in developing Post Alexander. It will be one of the first new apartment communities started in this market in recent years.

The developer announced today it has broken ground on the five-story, 307-unit, 300,000-sf multifamily venture on Phipps Boulevard and the Buckhead Loop on Alexander Circle. The site is adjacent to the 900,000-sf Phipps Plaza shopping center and near the 1.66-million-sf Lenox Mall, about nine miles north of Downtown Atlanta. Post Stratford, another Post Properties apartment asset, is less than a quarter of a mile from Post Alexander.

The first apartments are expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2008. They are being built at an estimated hard construction cost of $201,954 per unit or $206.66 per sf. Area construction sources tell GlobeSt.com those are premium cost number for new multifamily construction in the Buckhead area. The homes will range from about 530 sf to 1,500 sf with the average at 1,000 sf.