Thursday, December 1, 2011
Neighborhoods Developers pitching apartment complex along Beltline near Ponce City Market
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 11:36 AM
- Google Maps
- Perennial Properties wants to rezone nearly three acres (in blue) to allow for apartments
Perennial Properties, the Atlanta-based mixed-use commercial development firm behind the Pencil Factory Lofts, Apex West Midtown, and Highland Walk, have started jumping through hoops to eventually build an apartment building — possibly with 240 units — along the Beltline across the street from Ponce City Market and the Masquerade.
Company executives told CL they preferred to iron out some details over the next week before commenting about the proposal's specifics. But the group has asked the city to rezone three separate parcels — totaling nearly three acres — on Somerset Terrace from light-industrial to allow multifamily residential use.
The proposed sites overlook the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and (future) transit and Historic Fourth Ward Park, the final phase of which is under construction along North Avenue. Currently, the parcels feature a private skate park and the former home of Barking Hound Village, which relocated to the corner of North Avenue and Somerset Terrace. The Dixie Seal and Stamp Co.'s headquarters once sat on the property, but burned several years ago.
If built, the development could help the area, already home to the Ford Factory Lofts and other residential projects along Glen Iris Drive, become one of the Beltline's most dense and active spots. Jamestown Properties plans to transform City Hall East, the massive brick behemoth that sits between North and Ponce de Leon avenues, into Ponce City Market, a residential, commercial and retail hotspot. Chicago-based developer AMLI has announced plans to build a 260,000-square-foot apartment development on the parking lot across the street from Ponce City Market and the Masquerade.
Construction on the Beltline's Eastside Trail between Piedmont Park and DeKalb Avenue, and which would run directly in front of Perennial's development, is expected to finish next April. Should metro Atlanta voters OK a one-cent transportation tax next summer, that particular segment of the Beltline might also include transit.
Numerous sources have told us that Smith Dalia Architects, the firm behind the Westside's White Provision redevelopment, King Plow Arts Center and other local adaptive reuse projects, will design the Perennial development. The firm is also apparently involved with AMLI's proposed development across the street from Ponce City Market.
Perennial pitched its proposal to Neighborhood Planning Unit M this week as a courtesy — the sites are located just outside the NPU's boundaries — and is expected to stop by other community groups in the coming weeks. If you were among the attendees at one of the sessions, saw renderings, and wish to opine, feel free to do so in the comments or send me a line.
Comments (20)
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Dammmn -- we better hope that Beltline transit gets funded, y'all. Ponce traffic already stinks during the rush. I lived near this spot for a couple of years and do not miss that mess. I can't imagine what could happen to the road with nothing but car traffic.
This could certainly end up being an urban wonderland with good transpo alternatives in place -- and I hope to see that happen. But I shudder to think of Ponce with these projects fully developed & occupied, but with no viable transit alternative except for the #2 bus (God bless it) tooting along amongst the cars.
I'll hope for the best but can't help but stress out about the worst.
Being up on a hill the view from these apartments will be spectacular! This is great news for the Old Fourth Ward and the Beltline. We just need to get the light rail transit in there.
So it's directly across the Beltline from the Masquerade? Won't that be pretty loud?
It's going to take critical mass to push transit initiatives through in a backwards state like Georgia. I hope the design is up to par and doesn't look like your generic Post Properties gated fortress. Definitely good news.
I do wonder how both of these developments are going to work with The Masquerade right next door.
There's no way this is going to happen in the next 10 years. No reasonable market study will show lenders there is demand for this. Unless they are financing this project themselves, which would be foolish and uncommon, I wouldn't hold anyone's breath on this.
While I'd like to agree with @formerATLien, I work in the commercial real estate development industry and these deals are getting construction loans. How? I don't have a clue. It bothers me and boggled the mind. But they are happening somehow. Construction lenders want to get money out even if they take the same risks they did 5 years ago.
@sbarruf Boggling indeed. I work in the Mid-Atlantic area now and the only thing we're seeing get solid financing on the multi-family side is tax credit and senior deals (I'm assuming this is neither). It's as if they learned nothing. Between the comps, demand, and employment forecasts for the intown Atlanta market, I would be terrified as a developer going into a concept meeting. Total insanity.
Whew! people don't like my yuppie ghetto comment ;)
I'll echo what others have said— there's an obscene oversuppy of housing, both single family and multi family, in atlanta, even if you're only looking within a 3 or 4 blocks from the beltline corridor. I don't doubt that someday this is going to be a nice bunch of apartments, but I also dont doubt its going to be a faux-loft stucco monstrosity that doesn't bother to integrate its footprint into that of the city block its going to occupy.
Given these companies' penchants for building shoddy, paper mache-style dwellings, I'm not terribly excited. One of the worst things you can do to an area is plaster it with poorly designed structures (Atlantic Station) that look like shit once the new cement sheen washes off.
hey "i like the beltline"
1) I live in the ghetto
2) you've obviously never seen one of these http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SirOH0m-LGk/R8BY…
Apartments are what's selling right now as people can't afford or get financing for homes.
I think its great news. Not educated as to the quality of this builder, but if the area seems strong so at worse if become 2nd tier after 10 years we will have some affordable housing in an area that otherwise has some high net worth developmnts.
Good to see people here where transit will be viable. How far is it from the future King Center Street Car? Seems if traffic is bad its not a bad trip on the beltline to the King Center or to midtown via the beltline to 10th at the park.
WOW - I am constantly amazed at some of the negative and downright dumb comments I read in these comment threads.
Here is some insight from someone who has actually seen these plans and lives in the neighborhood where they are proposed to be built, to help get few facts straight.
1 - these proposed apts are in NPU-N, NOT NPU-M, and the developers have not finished their discussions with the impacted neighborhood, Poncey-Highland. Developer has also not gone to NPU-N for approval, yet - so everything is still in the preliminary design phase.
2 - Poncey Highland master plan does call for high density, residential at that location
Demand for rental is very high inside Atlanta right now and supply is low (witnessed by the rise in rental prices for intown units) - we will see much more rental built in-town before we see condos and houses built for at least the next few years.
From my personal perspective this development will likely get built as residential housing (1,2 and 3 bedrooms) and that will be just fine with me. Anything to get people working in ATL and development along the Beltline is a good thing.
True words, ATLgal. There's a common misconception that Atlanta is full of empty rental units and it ain't so. My family is searching for a new rental intown and pickings, at least in the well-connected and walkable spots we prefer, are slim -- particularly for 2-3 BR rentals.
There's a core intown area -- near MARTA, Beltline, jobs, parks and in walkable distance to variety of businesses -- that needs more non-luxury rentals, from what I can tell.
And I'll amend my earlier-posted thoughts to say that, though I fret about what may happen if this dense node of new housing is occupied before transit/transportation improvements are made, I still think it's a good project.
Most of these comments are idiotic. There is much multifamily financing out there. Apartment occupancy rates and rents are high. Tons of demand for these apartments. Check out Perennial's other developments, lots of brick and nice accents, no stucco. No one wants "affordable housing" in new construction, there are plenty of crappy cheap apartments already if you have no money
Darin is so right. It's tough finding a good apartment in the best neighborhoods right now. Apartments will be the development du jour for the forseeable future.
Exactly Stephanie Tainter.
The fundamentals for intown apartment development is quite good right now with low vacancy rates and strong demand in desirable locations.
a) Since the real-estate collapse there has been ZERO new construction for a couple of years and by the time these and other proposed apartments are finished, it will have been 4 or 5 years.
b) The demographics of the Atlanta metro indicate continued demand for intown housing.
c) As InAtl pointed out, more people will be renting longer.
@ Former ATLien:
"There's no way this is going to happen in the next 10 years. No reasonable market study will show lenders there is demand for this. Unless they are financing this project themselves, which would be foolish and uncommon, I wouldn't hold anyone's breath on this."
Umm...except for the fact that every market study shows that there is huge demand for apartments - particularly in the Midtown submarket (which is where this property would fall). Pricing power alone demonstrates a need for urban construction, as do demographic trends.
"I work in the Mid-Atlantic area now and the only thing we're seeing get solid financing on the multi-family side is tax credit and senior deals (I'm assuming this is neither)"
What the hell are you talking about? Billions of dollars of multi-family have been financed this year. It's the one sector of commercial real estate that hasn't had a problem getting financing, thanks to the availability of funds from Fannie/Freddie.
@ Zeds:
"I also dont doubt its going to be a faux-loft stucco monstrosity that doesn't bother to integrate its footprint into that of the city block its going to occupy"
Totally agree here. Unfortunately, this will be a slack-ass attempt to look like urban housing (like the couple of Post properties in Midtown), while only being 3 stories, spread out across a huge footprint, and complete with ample parking.
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