Middle Street Partners is trying to stand out amid a deluge of developers of new apartments fighting for renters in Atlanta.
Courtesy of Middle Street Partners
A rendering of the private rooftop pool overlooking the Midtown skyline at The Reserve at Juniper.
The South Carolina-based developer in January opened Westside Union, a 273-unit apartment project at 400 Bishop St. It is also putting the final touches on its twin luxury Midtown towers called The Juniper and The Reserve at Juniper, which combined will bring 480 units to the market.
Those projects are opening amid a historic glut. Developers unleashed more than 24,200 new units in Atlanta last year, an all-time high, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Another 19,300 units are still under construction.
While leasing hasn't yet started on the Juniper towers, Ed Alexander, Middle Street’s director of development for Georgia, said he is bullish on their potential because they are just one block from Piedmont Park. Average asking rents will be north of $4K per month, nearly double the Midtown average. Middle Street and its development partner, AECOM-Canyon Partners, brought in high-end amenities such as infrared and salt saunas and a cold plunge pool.
“We felt being a Piedmont Park deal, we were insulated from supply somewhat,” Alexander said. “We have been touring every deal that has delivered, and we feel really confident in our product. It's head and shoulders above the rest, in our opinion.”
At the 11-story Westside Union project in Loring Heights, rents range from $1,535 for a studio to $4,910 for a three-bedroom. The building is 20% leased this month, Alexander said.
“It’s a tweener location. It’s not Atlantic Station and it’s not West Midtown, but it’s proximate to both,” he said. “We thought that people would see a lot of value in being in between those two neighborhoods but not being right in the heart of them, especially West Midtown, just because we all know how congested it can get over there.”
But Middle Street will still have to fight for every renter. Two-thirds of all in-town apartment communities are offering some form of concession to lure renters, with 30% offering two or more months free, according to Haddow & Co.
Middle Street is willing to go even further at Westside Union.
“The team is equipped to offer 10 weeks if they feel that’s necessary to get someone to sign on the dotted line,” Alexander said.
The net result of all the new apartment supply has led to increased vacancy rates and a drop in rents. Overall apartment vacancies rose to nearly 12% by the fourth quarter, up from 11.5% the previous year, according to Lee & Associates.
Rents in Atlanta fell 6.3% between September 2023 and 2024, according to Haddow, and they are still declining. Cushman & Wakefield reported that effective rents declined 0.7% between Q3 and Q4.
Courtesy of Middle Street Partners
A rendering of an apartment unit at The Juniper in Midtown.
Concession are rising faster than rents are falling, especially as landlords push to stabilize new properties.
“The concession game is crazy out there right now. For the first time ever, we’re seeing four months' free rent in certain projects,” Mill Creek Residential Managing Director Phil Carson said Tuesday at Bisnow’s Urban Core event. “So, obviously, you’re going to have a few people cross the street and take advantage of that.”
Mill Creek was offering three months free at its new Modera Parkside apartment tower off 10th Street in Midtown, Urbanize Atlanta reported in December.
The deluge of new apartments made leasing a slog for Middle Street at The Boulevard at Grant Park, a BeltLine-adjacent apartment building that is now stabilized with over 90% occupancy, Alexander said. The building delivered at an early peak of the supply wave toward the end of 2023, “really when it was just terrible everywhere.”
“It’s been a little bit of a longer lease-up than we anticipated,” Alexander said. “There was a lot of supply that had come online. There was probably a decent amount of residents shopping and looking for the best deal that they could get. It just took owners, ourselves included, a little bit of time to sift through concessions.”
Once the Juniper towers deliver, Middle Street’s pipeline of Atlanta projects will be winnowed down to a single surface-parked suburban apartment complex in Gwinnett County, some 30 miles north of Midtown. The firm is under contract with a site, but Alexander declined to provide further details
“As you might have guessed, we're kind of full on the in-town pipeline right now,” he said.
