Buckhead Village Site That Could Yield 20-Story Tower Up For Sale

A small but prominent retail strip in the heart of Buckhead that is still owned by the family that built it nearly 80 years ago is up for sale.

Foundry Commercial is marketing 3171 Peachtree Road, a 21K SF retail property, offering it to developers as the site of a future mixed-use high-rise.

Three restaurant spaces occupy the building at the nearly 1-acre site, including local watering hole Moondogs and nightclub Red Martini. The third space, formerly a Hole in the Wall bar, is vacant.

The property, next to Trader Joe’s in the Buckhead Village, was first put on the market in the spring and could sell by year’s end, Foundry Managing Director Mark Lindenbaum told Bisnow.

“We’ve got offers on the table,” Lindenbaum said. “We’re fielding other offers in the market.”

The property was developed in 1946 and is still owned by the same family that built it, Lindenbaum said. The owner was listed under the LLC Ralph Rita Venture and is tied to First Southern Management Co. in Dunwoody. A call to the company wasn't returned as of press time. 

Lindenbaum said there is no official asking price for the property. Fulton County appraised the building at $4.7M earlier this year.

Lindenbaum said a new owner may want to buy and hold the property as is for the time being, awaiting the next development cycle. But under its zoning, developers could build a more than 20-story high-rise including hotel rooms, apartments or offices, according to Foundry marketing materials. 

Atlanta developer Rod Mullice said the property could garner a lot of developer and investor interest, so long as the family doesn’t need to trade it immediately. But once it sells, the owners could potentially reap multiples of the $4.7M county valuation because of the demand for Buckhead sites and the continued migration into the city. 

“Deals are hard to do right now. Most people are sitting on the sidelines until after the election,” said Mullice, whose firm, Windsor Stevens, is developing The Proctor mixed-use project on English Avenue.