ATLANTA | Development Thread V

[sbrptree]

I saw some construction activity at the Georgia Tech CODA site this afternoon, are they breaking ground?

[1lifealex]

Half of the buildings that Northside Medical Office is replacing have been demolish today

[Sbgt92]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Same here when I moved to Atlanta in 1989. The Michael Graves building, the old First Union building at 10th and Peachtree, and the AT&T building, the Crown Plaza and One Georgia Center are the only high rises I can see that were there then. Amazing.

I remember small fires set by hobos inside the abandoned Biltmore, drag queen hustlers hanging out at the kinkos parking deck at 4th and Peachtree, and the Stein Club on 8th. Sucks that they had to dismantle the old C&S building on North. Not sure it was beautiful, but it sure was interesting.

[Sbgt92]

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

I see the traffic around here often and it's not terrible unless you're commuting further away, particularly north/south neighborhoods not immediately around Piedmont Park. I absolutely welcome the density. I'd love for this plot and the entire western side of the EST down toward PCM be re-developed. People want to live and shop in this area, take transit, walk to work, have fewer trips by vehicle, or simply have a shorter commute to their work. Not to mention adding more places to live will support ridership on the eventual EST LRT.

It's pretty nasty at rush hour. A development in this area could end up forcing people out of their cars and onto bikes or on foot just to escape the traffic.

[ATLSkyPalaceOwner]

Originally Posted by clexmond

No thanks, we're good.

Hey clexmond, hope you're going good. From time to time, I have tried to update an entry in the Atlanta devmap.io, usually either deleting redundant entries (there are a handful in Midtown alone), renaming things once the projects names have been released, and updating the status from Construction to Complete for projects that aren't followed as closely. No matter what I do, though, my changes never stick. Do you know what is going on, and are other people having the same issue? I use Chrome on a Mac if that matters.

[ATLSkyPalaceOwner]

Originally Posted by 1lifealex

Half of the buildings that Northside Medical Office is replacing have been demolish today

This is pretty exciting. This one wasn't even on my radar to be honest. Any word when construction is expected to start? Are all of their permits filed?

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMustang

I see that, but I'm not optimistic.

The Beltline right there looks pathetic. Literally a sidewalk through a shopping center.

I was excited to see some aerials posted until I realized what they were...I knew both of those developments were going to suck but it's sad to have it confirmed so harshly. There are SO many things that could have been easily done to make them better.

Is the Beltline in the photos? When I saw your comment I looked and looked but couldn't find it...where exactly is it? I'm kind of afraid to ask.

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by sbrptree

I saw some construction activity at the Georgia Tech CODA site this afternoon, are they breaking ground?

I remember seeing the groundbreaking scheduled for November, so it would be a few months early if so. Maybe since they signed a major tenant recently?

[clexmond]

Originally Posted by ATLSkyPalaceOwner

Hey clexmond, hope you're going good. From time to time, I have tried to update an entry in the Atlanta devmap.io, usually either deleting redundant entries (there are a handful in Midtown alone), renaming things once the projects names have been released, and updating the status from Construction to Complete for projects that aren't followed as closely. No matter what I do, though, my changes never stick. Do you know what is going on, and are other people having the same issue? I use Chrome on a Mac if that matters.

Work on Devmap has been ramping back up very recently. I'd encourage you to try again, and if there are still issues let me know (or send a DM to @devmap). There have been a bunch of new markets added and we have a few more people to make sure updates are being pushed through quickly

[AtlantaMustang]

Originally Posted by TarHeelJ

Is the Beltline in the photos? When I saw your comment I looked and looked but couldn't find it...where exactly is it? I'm kind of afraid to ask.

Unfortunately it's in plain site, just doesn't look like much. It's the sidewalk left of the chick-fil-a, between it and the access road to the Kroger. It's the wide sidewalk that dead ends toward the street. You can see the Beltline turns left at Kroger and has a crosswalk to the portion where it runs along the parking lot then the apartment building down toward Glenwood Ave in the other photos.



It was always going to be an awkward spot for the Beltline with crossing I-20 and Glenwood park already existing along Bill Kennedy Way, it's just unfortunate that this was the solution. I don't even expect better anymore.

[Tuckerman]

It appears that the Alexan on Pfarr Rd. is underway?

[RocketSurgeon]

I'm not sure everyone understands the economics of developments like that. Those areas don't have enough population density or transit usage to support that much retail without ample parking. Big garages and multi-story buildings are expensive, and for a low-margin business like Kroger, even a small lease premium can make a difference. It's easy to say the area should look to the future, force changes, etc., and in fact that's what zoning regulations are for, but those changes have to be gradual. Developers and retailers must turn a profit quickly, not decades later when an altruistic plan to reshape a neighborhood has finally come together. Major retailers can thrive in urban spaces (like the two-story Target by Lenox, also a Fuqua development by the way), but only where there is significantly higher density and affluence. You guys are asking too much out of what is essentially a suburb, and in the case of Glenwood one that doesn't even have a transit station. Glenwood pulled off a town center, but it's all residential and small-scale retail, and that can thrive in any shape with enough demand. Major retail (like grocery stores) is different, and you're fooling yourself if you think any other developer could pull it off and Fuqua is just being stubborn.

I doubt very highly that anything like Glenwood is going to end up next to Piedmont Park. Those areas are very different, and there isn't much land. I'd expect it to be more along the lines of the one by Lenox.

[Street Advocate]

Sure, costs and profits of a shitty mixed use development has everything to do with revenue generation for a corporate development, but it has nothing to do with retaining a neighborhood's character and ensuring appropriate development for an area. We now have three Fuqua developments within a one mile radius of one another. Two directly adjacent the BeltLine and a third at Edgewood.

Considering the development is proposed to be apartments, townhomes, hotel, grocery, and restaurant, I bet it looks nothing like either development previously mentioned. He could propose something decent, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm sick of this guy mutilating the inner city neighborhoods of Atlanta and plan to follow the Piedmont Park proposal closely.

[robertjhajek]

Alta Midtown, pool is about to open up, still have lots of work to go on mid rise and the interior park.

[robertjhajek]

Jesus, how do I make that smaller on Imgur?

[Street Advocate]

Originally Posted by robertjhajek

Jesus, how do I make that smaller on Imgur?

600x800 are decent pixel sizes to post here. Looks like you figured out how to make it smaller. For other users, you can change the size in the top right of the photo before saving the upload during the phase where you can crop the image.

[Martinman]

Originally Posted by RocketSurgeon

I'm not sure everyone understands the economics of developments like that. Those areas don't have enough population density or transit usage to support that much retail without ample parking. Big garages and multi-story buildings are expensive, and for a low-margin business like Kroger, even a small lease premium can make a difference. It's easy to say the area should look to the future, force changes, etc., and in fact that's what zoning regulations are for, but those changes have to be gradual. Developers and retailers must turn a profit quickly, not decades later when an altruistic plan to reshape a neighborhood has finally come together. Major retailers can thrive in urban spaces (like the two-story Target by Lenox, also a Fuqua development by the way), but only where there is significantly higher density and affluence. You guys are asking too much out of what is essentially a suburb, and in the case of Glenwood one that doesn't even have a transit station. Glenwood pulled off a town center, but it's all residential and small-scale retail, and that can thrive in any shape with enough demand. Major retail (like grocery stores) is different, and you're fooling yourself if you think any other developer could pull it off and Fuqua is just being stubborn.

I doubt very highly that anything like Glenwood is going to end up next to Piedmont Park. Those areas are very different, and there isn't much land. I'd expect it to be more along the lines of the one by Lenox.

The problem here is not lack of density but suburban, car-oriented development. Quite simply If such a building would not work without a huge surface parking lot then it shouldn't be in that location. Additionally a mega Kroger in location accessed only by two lane roads is horrible planning. Instead it should be a neighborhood sized grocery store as a part of the mixed-use development that makes the cost of structured parking more feasible. Everything about the development is just bad.

It's all a moot point because the city approved it despite it being contrary to the Beltline overlay zoning and for that reason I don't blame Fuqua.

[A-town]

Took this pic of Midtown from the Westside. That gap has really filled in.

[pica]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMustang

Unfortunately it's in plain site, just doesn't look like much. It's the sidewalk left of the chick-fil-a, between it and the access road to the Kroger. It's the wide sidewalk that dead ends toward the street. You can see the Beltline turns left at Kroger and has a crosswalk to the portion where it runs along the parking lot then the apartment building down toward Glenwood Ave in the other photos.

It was always going to be an awkward spot for the Beltline with crossing I-20 and Glenwood park already existing along Bill Kennedy Way, it's just unfortunate that this was the solution. I don't even expect better anymore.

That's not the BeltLine. It was, at one time, the plan for the BeltLine to follow that path. And that was Fuqua's intention when it was built as part of the Glenwood development. But the BeltLine has decided that the alignment should likely be moved back to the Bill Kennedy Way right-of-way. You can see three options here: http://beltlineorg.wpengine.netdna-cdn.c...2016/05/Final-Presentation-5.10.16-3.pdf

I went to the meeting. This is just a nice sidewalk (or it would be if it actually connected to Bill Kennedy, but that lot on the corner has a different owner).

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by pica

That's not the BeltLine. It was, at one time, the plan for the BeltLine to follow that path. And that was Fuqua's intention when it was built as part of the Glenwood development. But the BeltLine has decided that the alignment should likely be moved back to the Bill Kennedy Way right-of-way. You can see three options here: http://beltlineorg.wpengine.netdna-cdn.c...2016/05/Final-Presentation-5.10.16-3.pdf

I went to the meeting. This is just a nice sidewalk (or it would be if it actually connected to Bill Kennedy, but that lot on the corner has a different owner).

Thank god! It would have been embarrassing to call that part of the Beltline. I wondered why that wide part of the sidewalk ended into nothing.