Grayco Partners Latest In Apartment Game
Houston-based Grayco Partners has filed plans for an unspecified commercial development that will exceed 250k SF at the site of Houston's restaurant in Buckhead. (You know what they say, "The best laid plans of mice and men make great developments.")
We got our paws on permits filed by Grayco with the City of Atlanta to develop the project. Grayco, a luxury apartment developer, was not specific on its plans. But Haddow & Co's Ladson Haddow tells us the company is looking to develop an eight-story, 250-unit project that should deliver by the spring of 2016 behind the restaurant within the Brookwood Square shopping center.
Grayco has developed luxury communities in Texas, and this would be its first Atlanta project. (Let's give founder Jeff Gray, above, a warm welcome and perhaps a potluck dinner.) Among its projects include the South Shore District in Austin, CityLake in Houston, The Belle Meade at River Oaks in Houston, and Venue Museum District, which is right on Houston's METRORail. With this unnamed project, Grayco's project will be along the Beltline. Jeff didn't return our calls for comment by publication.
Ladson (right, with Chris Hall and David Haddow) tells us Grayco's project is part of 8,374 units proposed inside Atlanta's city limits, including Paces Properties' 250 Piedmont, Wood Partners' 33 Peachtree Place, Tivoli's Yoo on the Park, and AMLI's Piedmont Heights. And that's not even taking into account the more than 8,200 units currently under construction. “The big story, as you know, is how many towers are underway in Midtown proper… and the types of rents they're going to have to get,” Ladson says. That means most every developer is now chasing the $2/SF Holy Grail. (Indiana Jones is also after it.)
But Ladson says those are being achieved, and then some. Atlanta's current high watermark is Daniel Corp's 77 12th St, above, which is seeing $2.31/SF rents, followed by Novare's SkyHouse South, which is hitting $2.24/SF. This at a time when occupancy overall is a healthy 96.1%. “They're not only getting it but are having successful lease-ups,” Ladson says. But the true test is over the next 18 months when nearly 23,000 units built since 2000 have to compete with the slew of new product in the works. “The question is just how deep is that demand pool at those rent levels?”
