Skyline-altering Midtown tower proposal shows signs of life

One of Atlanta’s more buzzed-about building proposals in the past decade’s growth cycle is showing signs of rumbling to life.

According to City of Atlanta Office of Buildings records, New York-based developer Rockefeller Group has begun the process of applying for building permits to erect the city’s tallest skyscraper since the 1990s at the southwest corner of West Peachtree and 12th streets.

Sources have also indicated Rockefeller Group is in the process this month of lining up contractors to build the 61-story tower at 1072 W. Peachtree Street NE—and that designs may have been tweaked since the project was last making headlines in the spring.

Amy Ankeles, Rockefeller Group’s vice president of marketing, tells Urbanize Atlanta the Manhattan firm continues “to advance our development plans for the project” and expects to “have more to share… in a few weeks,” according to a July 29 email.

Building permit records indicate documents pertaining to various aspects of the 1072 West Peachtree project, from the block's sewer capacity on up, were submitted to the city in July.

A rendering has also surfaced (see the gallery above) that appears to show changes to the tower’s exterior, especially its east-facing crown, with buildings around Georgia Tech clearly visible in the background. Rockefeller Group and architects associated with the project, however, haven’t confirmed the image is valid.

Should it move forward as planned, the mixed-use skyscraper would reshape Midtown’s skyline, especially when viewed from the west.

The 1.14-acre site where West Peachtree Street meets 12th Street, which has long been occupied by a U.S. Postal Service building and its parking lot, was bought by Rockefeller Group for $25 million in 2020.

Rockefeller Group’s project last made news when USPS closed the Midtown Station and Passport Mega Center and moved operations in February to the backside of Selig's 1065 Peachtree Street building, setting the stage for redevelopment. (Rockefeller Group recently partnered with Selig on the 40 West 12th condos, a block from the former post office). 

The 1072 West Peachtree building, as designed by architecture firms TVS Design and Brock Hudgins, would include 350 market-rate apartments and 212,000 square feet of offices.

At the base, roughly 6,600 square feet of retail is planned along West Peachtree Street. An eight-story parking deck with some 850 spaces would be fully screened with translucent glass, project leaders have said.

The project was last vetted by the Midtown Development Review Committee in December, when DRC members were pleased with updates from an earlier incarnation but recommended further design tweaks.

Early indications were that Rockefeller Group’s tower would climb more than 730 feet, making it Atlanta’s fifth tallest high-rise.

In terms of sheer stories, the building as proposed would tally the second-most in Atlanta, bested only by Westin Peachtree Plaza’s 73 stories.

Atlanta’s second tallest building, SunTrust/Truist Plaza, has 60 stories.

Rockefeller Group’s venture is one of three towers that entered (or re-entered) Midtown’s development pipeline late in 2021 within a few blocks of each other. The others are high-rise office proposals from Cousins Properties (887 West Peachtree Street) and Trammel Crow (80 Peachtree Place, called Stratus Midtown). Collectively, the three projects would bring 117 stories of vertical development.   

Elsewhere in Midtown, 21 buildings of at least a dozen stories are under construction now, with seven more high-rises in planning stages, according to Midtown Alliance.

• Midtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)