Eagle-eyed development wonks of Atlanta have spotted recent permitting activity at a prominent intown site where one of Midtown’s tallest buildings in a decade is expected to rise, incorporating designs that district officials have lauded.
Density advocates will be pleased to know Cousins Properties’ 901 West Peachtree tower is indeed progressing, per its developers. Just don’t expect cranes in the near-term.
Unveiled three years ago, the 901 West Peachtree venture (aka 8th@West) is planned for part of a block bounded by West Peachtree, 8th, and 7th streets.
The Daiquiri Factory, a cleaners, and Sonic Mobile offices previously occupied by site, but last year Cousins razed those buildings and fenced the property.
The West Peachtree Street site cleared today. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
Expected to climb 31 stories, the Pickard Chilton and HKS-designed tower last came before the Midtown Development Review Committee in June, after Cousins had acquired additional, adjacent property to make parking more efficient and loading functions more discrete.
The DRC backed those plan adjustments and commended the developer “for a well-designed project,” per a meeting recap.
How the tower would relate to recent Midtown development, as seen from over the Connector. Courtesy of Cousins Properties
Recent permitting work—albeit the first in a year—is less exciting: It’s related to electrical power, sewer functionality, and other infrastructure at the site.
But Melissa McNamara, Cousins vice president and corporate communications head, tells Urbanize Atlanta the project’s preleasing phase is ongoing as work continues behind the scenes.
“We are continuing to proceed … and are making progress with the design for an anticipated delivery in 2024,” McNamara wrote in an email.
Potential look of West Peachtree retail. Courtesy of Cousins Properties
View from the north toward downtown. Courtesy of Cousins Properties
According to initial plans in early 2018, the glassy blade-like structure would offer about a half-million square feet of offices above street retail, joining a forest of recent apartment and student housing buildings a block from Tech Square.
The project would join an upsurge in Midtown office investment in recent years—activity that’s included NCR Corporation’s new world headquarters on nearby Spring Street, which was also developed by Cousins.
Other substantial projects in the district include Selig Development’s $530-million 1105 West Peachtree, where Google has signed a lease for the highest office floors; the Invesco-anchored Midtown Union by MetLife Investment Management and Granite Properties; and train company Norfolk Southern’s new corporate headquarters, another Cousins build.
• New renderings provide closeup of Midtown highway-capping park vision (Urbanize Atlanta)
• 901 West Peachtree (site)
