Buckhead's Big Comeback Story
Three Alliance Center. Regent Partners' new mixed-use development. Skyhouse Buckhead. AMLI'S City Place. These are just a few of the reasons why Buckhead is now, more than ever, hitting its stride and why we're excited to be hosting the Buckhead Renaissance event Nov. 20 at St. Regis in Buckhead.
Perhaps the most emblematic of Buckhead's return is the completion of Buckhead Atlanta--once an eyesore in the middle of the Buckhead Village that was nothing more than the grave of Atlanta's pre-recession mixed-use dreams, according to event panelist and OliverMcMillan development director Hunter Richardson. When OliverMcMillan came in and ushered the project to its recent grand opening, it altered the way tenants viewed Buckhead, he says.
“As our construction and leasing efforts ramped up, we started to see a number of things happen around us,” Hunter says, such as Restoration Hardware's flagship store at the former ESPN Zone location, and Hanover's efforts to develop an apartment complex next to The Buckhead Theatre. But that activity spread to investments as well. Parkway recently paid a huge number for One Buckhead Plaza (story here).
Hunter hints that OliverMcMillan may not be finished with Atlanta either, aside from the Dior site (set to be complete by 2015), and finishing plans for the former HiFi Buys site. The firm has its eyes on sites in both Buckhead and Midtown and is kicking a lot of tires. In particular, he likes the Inman Park are and says he'd like to do another mixed-use project in Atlanta but nothing's imminent.
Another event panelist, Regent Partners' David Allman, sees Buckhead in another way: “You have to look at Buckhead in its core commercial area as supply constrained,” he says. “You're essentially out of sites. And you've never been able to say that about a submarket in Atlanta. Ever.” Regent, of course, is moving forward on 3354 and 3356 Peachtree Road: a massive mixed-use project that would involve a 614k SF office tower and a nearly 300-unit apartment tower (with assorted retail and condo units as well) behind Capital City Plaza (seen here in Regent's renderings).
Recently, Regent released some initial renderings of the project, seen here. David (here) says the completion of Buckhead Atlanta “bridges a continuum” that blends the CBD with South Buckhead, a distinction that should further be erased in the future once streetscape and road improvement projects finish. To hears more, please join us on Nov. 20 at St. Regis for our Buckhead Renaissance event (tickets here).
