Midtown: The New Bedroom Community?

Robin Loudermilk's latest project comes at an appropriate time as we are just days away from our 2nd Annual Future of Midtown event. (Not that he planned it that way... we think.) And we chatted with Robin about why he decided to break out of the gate with Atlanta's first new Intown condo project since the recession.

“I always heard when apartments are hot, build condos,” The Loudermilk Cos' namesake tells us. (Isn't that an Ancient Roman proverb?) All joshing aside, Robin—who partnered with Novare before the recession to develop Spire and Viewpoint in Midtown—says he feels the glut of for-rent multifamily may be a little overheated. “It just felt like condos are what we needed down [in Midtown], and larger units.”

In fact, the customers who bought into Spire or ViewPoint are the ones already expressing interest in Seventh Midtown (with five units already under contract). The project (rendered here), at Peachtree and 7th streets, will be 20 units that will begin in the $700ks (floorplans from 1,800 SF to 2,800 SF). “We've gotten interest from some of those folks \... who want to upgrade but don't want to leave Midtown,” Robin says. 

Loudermilk is the first out with condo (with delivery next fall), but not the only one planned. John Weiland's One Museum Place (here)—also in Midtown across from the High—will hit the market in two years with $1M-plus condo units. (Sounds like it will be a good place to camp outside if you want autographs from famous Atlantans.) And that's on top of The Atlantic's 324 remaining units for sale and Crescent Heights converting back to for-sale with more than 300 units, according to Haddow & Co (which tracks multifamily stats in Atlanta). But with more than 3,000 units of apartments either under construction or proposed for Midtown, this begs the question: Is Midtown the new bedroom community for Intown Atlanta?

"I'm a poster child for the Midtown movement. After 28 years in an East Cobb cul-de-sac, my wife and I sought an urban lifestyle and found it in Midtown,” says North American Properties' Mark Toro (a panelist at our Future of Midtown event). And Mark does see Midtown emerging as the bedroom community for ITP. “Midtown has clearly emerged as the preferred, if not only, option to get it in Atlanta.”