PMRG Plans Apartment Skyscraper In Buckhead
One of Atlanta's largest office landlords is eyeing a new Buckhead project, but this time, it will build apartments that reach for the skies.
Houston-based PM Realty Group is in talks to buy an undisclosed parcel in Metro Atlanta's financial hub that will feature its multifamily debut in the city, Chairman Rick Kirk told Bisnow. If the land deal closes, PMRG's multifamily division would then spearhead an apartment tower, akin to one it recently completed in Denver called The Confluence, Kirk said.
“This is very preliminary,” he said. "There are a lot of studies that need to be done to prove this out."
Kirk declined to identify the site PMRG is in talks to acquire, nor did he reveal many details on its planned multifamily project, other than it would be a skyscraper.
In Atlanta, PMRG is best-known for its office acumen. The firm's Atlanta division leases or manages more than 30 office properties around the metro area, including Techrise in Buckhead, Mansell One and Two in Alpharetta, Ten Peachtree Place, 999 Peachtree St., Pershing Park Plaza and Ten 10th St., all of which are in Midtown.
The firm also co-owns 3379 Peachtree, a nine-story, 126K SF office building off Peachtree Road in Buckhead formerly known as the Peachtree Lenox Building. PMRG purchased it, along with Boston-based The Roseview Group, in 2015 for more than $20M. PMRG has recently tapped CBRE to sell the building, now more than 90% leased after a multimillion-dollar renovation.
PMRG itself also is in the process of merging with D.C.-based Madison Marquette, which will create a $7B real estate powerhouse with hundreds of properties across the country. Kirk recently told Bisnow that the merger allows his company, which has a large presence in the southern U.S., to gain a foothold on the East Coast and West Coast and to improve its multifamily and retail prowess.
"Our services were very complementary, and our geographic regions were very complementary; there's not a lot of overlap in either of those," Kirk said. "We've got all the pieces together for a real machine."
The merger is expected to close within the next three weeks, as the companies iron out the last technical details and finalize the contracts.
While PMRG has yet to design the Atlanta apartment tower, Kirk said it would likely be geared toward a younger, millennial renter.
“I think it would be a very unique project to Atlanta,” he said.
PMRG's multifamily division has already made luxury inroads not only in Denver, but also in Houston and Dallas, where it has three other projects, including 1400 Hi Line in Dallas and 2929 Weslayan in Houston.
The target renters are different for some projects. For instance, 2929 Weslayan is attracting high-income renters earning an average of $300K/year, Kirk said. But also in Houston, PMRG — with its partner, Los Angeles-based AECOM — just broke ground on 3300 Main, a 29-story apartment tower that will be targeting renters at “a significantly lower [income] than that,” he said.
“We are doing multifamily developments around the country in very strategic locations,” Kirk said.
While still preliminary, Kirk said the potential plan for Atlanta would be to put the project on par with the quality build-out of The Confluence, which is located in Downtown Denver right where the South Platte River and Cherry Creek converge.
The 35-story apartment includes a heated outdoor pool and hot tub, skyline lounges, a fitness facility, and a bike- and ski-maintenance center as well as an REI store on the ground floor.
For Atlanta, it could be some time before PMRG breaks ground on the project.
“It going to be awhile. I doubt that it will be this year,” Kirk said.
