The proliferation of cranes over Midtown is testament to how many high-rise projects are in the works.
As of October, 16 high-rises – from student housing and condos to hotels and offices – were in various stages of construction, according to the Midtown Alliance. Eight more have been proposed and are moving through the city’s approval process before construction begins (Check out the graphic above from Midtown Alliance for all the projects).
“Midtown’s momentum persists,” Midtown Alliance President & CEO Kevin Green said in his annual report on the district. “[We’re] s a dynamic community with a mix of residents, businesses, academic and arts and cultural powerhouses that make significant contributions to our city.”
That ongoing momentum will result in a dramatically altered skyline and more density than the city has ever seen. Even the district’s streets are being altered to make room for the new developments.
Case in point is Arts Center Way, which is being extended across West Peachtree Street from behind the High Museum to become a focal point of the massive Midtown Union project. The three-tower development located between West Peachtree and Spring Streets held a topping out ceremony last month on its 26-story office tower, which will be anchored by the future headquarters of Invesco.
The mixed-use development designed by Cooper Carry will also have a 26-story, 355-unit residential tower called Mira and a 14-story, 230-key hotel operated by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.
Arts Center Way will cut through the development as a pedestrian walkway lined with retail and restaurants connecting the Woodruff Arts Center campus to Spring Street.
All three towers are on schedule for a third quarter 2022 opening, according to officials with MetLife Investment Management and Granite Properties.
“We’re pleased to achieve this major construction milestone and are thrilled to be on schedule to complete this large, transformative project in Midtown Atlanta,” said John Robbins, Senior Managing Director of Granite Properties.
Just a few blocks south, Portman Residential and National Real Estate Advisors have broken ground on 1000 Spring, a new apartment tower at the corner of Spring and 10th Streets.
The tower, which will include 370 residential units and11,000 square feet of retail space, is the opening salvo of much larger project.
The larger development plan features a 525,000 square foot office building, 225-room hotel and incorporate the historic H.M. Patterson & Son’s Spring Hill Chapel as a venue with “a food and beverage focus.”
Two other towers that seem to have been under construction forever are The Hadley, the 26-story apartment building from StreetLights Residential going up behind St. Mark’s Church at the corner of Juniper and 5th, and 903 Peachtree, a 33-story apartment tower with 427 units and nearly 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail.
As Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and the campuses at Atlanta University Center continue to attract more enrollees, the number of private student housing towers also continues to grow. Four of the 16 high-rise projects underway in Midtown are dedicated to student housing, including The Hub on Campus (19-stories, 800 beds) at Spring and 10th streets and Moontower (31-stories, 195 units) next door to The Cheetah at 859 Spring.
Another educational institution adding its mark to the Midtown skyline is the Savannah College of Art & Design. SCAD already has a 14-story student residential tower topped with an event space, but a 20-story dorm complex with 1,000 beds, food market, dining hall, and auditorium is rising where Spring Street meets the Buford-Spring Connector.
For new towers to rise, sometimes neighborhood institutions must fall. On Juniper Street, both Einstein’s and Joe’s on Juniper – favorites of the LGBTQ community for nearly three decades – shuttered over the summer and will be razed to make room for the two-tower project from Middle Street Partners. The Juniper Street project will span an entire block between 11th and 12th Streets with 38 and 32 story towers with 470 apartments, 9,500 square feet of street level retail and a shared parking deck.
Another big project in the pipeline is 1405 Spring Street, a 31-story apartment building from JPX Works that would sit on the space currently occupied by John Marshall Law School’s shuttered Blackburn Conference Center.
And then there’s Society, a 33-story tower proposed by Property Markets at 811 Peachtree St. The building will feature 15,600 square feet of retail, 76,500 square feet office, and 460 residential units. The tower would sit on what is now a parking lot at the corner of 6th – across the street from Cornerstone Village condos.