Demolition crews are hardly taking the holidays off in the heart of Midtown.

After chain-link barriers went up around former nightclubs, a restaurant, apartments (now fire-damaged), and low-rise offices late last summer, heavy equipment is currently wiping clean nearly a full block of buildings between 12th and 13th streets and Peachtree Walk. Crescent Avenue establishments will remain.

The demolition is preparing the site for Selig Development’s next large-scale, mixed-use venture in the immediate area, Midtown Exchange.

The veteran Atlanta real estate and development firm completed the three-tower 1105 West Peachtree project one block west last year. Selig has also built five other residential and office towers in nearby blocks since the Great Recession.  

Now, Midtown Exchange calls for a residential tower standing 37 stories and a 26-story office building.

Demolition work, and the last standing sections of burned apartments, as seen this week along Peachtree Walk. Submitted

In between the glassy towers would be a central courtyard accessed from Peachtree Walk, while 24,500 square feet of retail would be placed at street level, as designed by Rule Joy Trammell and Rubio architects.

The office tower would span 619,700 square feet, and all 465 apartments at Midtown Exchange would be market-rate, officials have said. Also included next to the plaza is a proposed 10-story parking deck with 1,608 spaces, which would serve both buildings with access points on 12th and 13th streets, per Selig’s plans.

The sloped Peachtree Walk section of the project—dotted with steel planter boxes and a bounty of plantings—will be part of the planned Midtown Art Walk, a promenade stretching between 10th Street and Woodruff Arts Center.

Revised plans for Midtown Exchange's Peachtree Walk (left) and 12th Street frontage presented to Midtown DRC in May. Selig Development; designs, RJTR, via Midtown Alliance

Midtown Exchange is replacing a hodgepodge of former homes and older buildings that housed several cherished businesses for years.

Those include the longstanding Cosmolava club, the former home of Deadwood Saloon and Twisted Taco, along with a corner building most recently home to Stellar Bodies gym. Another Peachtree Walk building was used as offices for marketing and insurance firms, while other property was surface parking.  

Meanwhile, Northern Italian restaurant Pasta da Pulcinella, a Midtown staple, is planning to uproot from its Peachtree Walk bungalow to an early 1900s home on West Peachtree Street, located roughly two blocks away. That building is currently being converted to restaurant uses.  

Find the latest renderings showing what’s in store for this transforming Midtown block in the gallery above. 

• Midtown news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)