AMLI may develop Trump site. (From ABC)
A site where New York real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump once planned a giant condo project in Atlanta is back in play — apparently as the latest Midtown high-rise apartment.
AMLI Residential is considering whether to develop the tower at 15th and West Peachtree streets, according to people familiar with the plans. Seven years ago, the site was going to feature two high-rise condominiums — developed by a partnership between Trump and Atlanta-based Wood Partners LLC.
The plans were scaled back and later shelved.
The site was foreclosed upon in 2010.
Now, AMLI would resurrect the site as the post-recession darling of development in Atlanta — the apartment tower.
It could become the fifth high-rise to enter the Midtown pipeline over the next year.
Contractors have been pricing a project on the site that could range from 20 to 30 stories. The proposal may soon come before the Midtown Development Review committee, according to people with knowledge of the plans.
AMLI did not respond to calls.
Atlanta’s high-rise apartment cycle got off to a slow start compared with other Sun Belt cities.
That allowed occupancy and rents to recover.
Now, intown job growth, fueled by the professional services sector, has returned, though at a somewhat muted pace compared with previous rebounds the city has seen.
High-rise residential towers have achieved some of the most impressive rents during the period.
It’s a welcome change for Atlanta multifamily developers. In recent years, major metro regions across the Sun Belt saw rents that outpaced Atlanta’s, especially in cities such as Austin, Houston and Dallas, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C.
Nationally, San Jose and San Francisco, Calif., led all markets, posting increases from 9 percent to almost 11 percent.
Atlanta was closer to 3 percent.
But, Midtown apartment developers this year have reported rents exceeding $2 a square foot. The growth is also fueled by a greater shift to a rentership society in the wake of the housing crash, a prolonged period of declining homeownership rates, and the emergence of millennials, who prefer living in more urban, walkable districts.
AMLI certainly sees those trends in Atlanta.
“They know what the other towers are getting in rents,” said Chris Hall, with the real estate analyst Haddow & Co. “I think they can achieve the same success, especially with a great site like that.”
Apartment towers have been one of the few development trends to talk about within intown Atlanta the past year, as the construction boom for office and condo projects came to an end during the downturn. In Buckhead and Brookhaven alone, developers plan to start 3,065 apartment units this year, according to The Reid Report, a publication that tracks multifamily development. The number of units started this year in Buckhead is an astounding number for district known best for high-rise office and high-end retail.
Midtown also has its own share of new projects. One of the most recent is an $85 million tower, including 350 apartment units, by the Midtown MARTA station. Wood Partners LLC is the developer. New Midtown towers have capitalized on the demand for high-rise living, according to Haddow & Co. That trend began in the early 2000s.
By the time Trump Towers was announced in 2006, the lending market was flush with credit, and the Trump Organization was seeking development partners with experience in the high-rise and luxury segments in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and Dubai. But, Trump Towers was among the last projects to enter the booming Atlanta condo market, and by 2007 sales already began to slow.
How long this mini-boom of apartment towers continues is uncertain. It’s being buoyed by demand from young professionals who view urban living in Atlanta as a bargain compared with other cities. Rumblings of more residential towers continue. For now, many will proceed as luxury apartments, at least until developers and their lenders begin to think rent growth has plateaued.
Said George Reid, author of The Reid Report: “High-rise residential living in Atlanta, whether it’s rental or for sale product, is a form of housing in the urban markets that is to here to stay.”
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