Tired Vacant Midtown Building Gets New Lease on Life

Located at 1400 West Peachtree Street in the heart of Midtown between 17th Street and 18th Street, an empty 35,000-square-foot commercial building currently sits on the land.

ATLANTA—A 1.52-acre of land in Midtown Atlanta just traded hands. Greystar Real Estate Partners acquired the land from Jamestown Properties . Alan Joel and Dan Granot , principals at Joel & Granot Real Estate/CORFAC International , represented the seller. Greystar plans to build a pair of high-rise towers. One will ultimately house more than 300 residential units. The other will be home to a hotel with over 150 rooms plus street-level retail space. “Over the last five years we have put numerous tenants into the building with short-term leases and also leased the parking lot to generate rent for our client Jamestown Properties,” Joel tells GlobeSt.com. “On more than one occasion we leased the building to a movie production company. It was all to cover some of the ownership costs for Jamestown while we waited for the market to reach a point in which a sale could provide the best return for Jamestown.” Located at 1400 West Peachtree Street in the heart of Midtown between 17th Street and 18th Street, an empty 35,000-square-foot commercial building currently sits on the land. The building will be razed during the redevelopment. When redevelopment plans for the site became public in 2015, one local media company stated that Greystar would invest upwards of $150 million to build the two towers. The site is just north of Center Stage Theater and the MARTA Arts Center Station. The Atlanta Ballet occupied the building for nearly 20 years, but vacated before Joel and Granot started representing Jamestown as leasing agents in July 2010. Joel says, “Back in 2010 none of the national companies wanted the leasing business for a tired and vacant commercial building because it was a tough assignment.” Meanwhile, Related Group is developing a new luxury, mixed-use multifamily tower in Midtown Atlanta—and it’s picked Balfour Beatty Construction to build it. Related made a name for itself building multifamily and condo projects in South Florida, but sees a prime opportunity in Atlanta. Located at West Peachtree and 14th Street, the 39-story multifamily project will become the tallest residential tower built in Atlanta since 2009. The tower will feature 390 luxury apartments with 6,500 square feet of retail space. Designed by architecture firm Smallwood, Reynolds, Steward, Stewart , the project is scheduled for final completion in first quarter 2018. “The Related Group is well known for its commitment to creating places that inspire and bring meaningful momentum to the neighborhoods where they are located,” says Al Petrangeli , president of Balfour Beatty’s Georgia division. “Midtown is Atlanta’s most walkable neighborhood and home to an impressive mix of businesses, retail and green space.” Want some reasons to keep a close eye on Atlanta? Check out my recent column .