Novare to pitch new Midtown high-rise - and yes, it includes a parking deck

The slow wall-ification of Juniper Street’s western side

As construction activity in Atlanta slowly starts to rebound from the economic crash, we once again face questions about how our neighborhoods will change. Here’s one of ‘em.

Midtown Patch’s Hunt Archibold on Friday reports that intown development behemoth Novare Group will pitch its proposal for a 23-story, mixed-use building along 6th and Juniper streets to a neighborhood group.

We should be thrilled that the infill developer founded by Jim Borders, the former lawyer who saved the Biltmore and helped revive Midtown living with skyscrapers aplenty, is building dense deep intown. Retail on the ground floor, apartments up top. All replacing dilapidated, vacant buildings. All that sounds wonderful.

Yes, Novare’s buildings usually have a cookie-cutterdesign. (Maybe it’ll come with little spire up top!) But we’re also nervous about one pesky detail. Via Archibold:

Parking will be in an adjacent deck at the southwest corner of 7th and Juniper streets according to the application.

Does Juniper Street really need, especially along this stretch, a parking deck to accompany all the nearby parking lots? Building a parking deck along the street, which Novare is also doing with its West Peachtree Street high-rise currently under construction, could turn that stretch of the busy thoroughfare into a dead zone (and an obstacle course) for pedestrians.

In a perfect world, Atlanta developers would follow other cities’ examples and construct the parking underground. Or integrate it into the building’s interior. (In a truly perfect world, living without a car in metro Atlanta wouldn’t be so difficult.) As the economy slowly starts to improve and new construction permits start getting filed, perhaps city officials should consider a program or legislative fixes to encourage developers to build fewer parking decks - especially in parts of the city such as Midtown, which has made great strides to create a walkable community.