Work spotted at long-planned Midtown tower site; developer quiet

In the wonderful world of Atlanta development wonks, a cleared lot on 14th Street near Piedmont Park has emerged in recent years as the new capital of false alarms.

That trend appears to be continuing this month. Maybe. 

As Midtown residents and others in cyberspace have noted, heavy equipment and work crews have been spotted over the past week at 250 14th St., where active intown developer Toll Brothers initially revealed plans for an apartment tower back in 2019. Tweaked plans for more density were later the source of neighborhood ire and a petition against them.

Toll Brothers officials this week didn’t specify if recent activity at the site is the start of construction, testing, stabilization, or any other purpose.

“While we still do own the property,” a development rep wrote to Urbanize Atlanta via email, “we don’t have much information to share at this time.”

The only permitting activity filed with Atlanta’s Department of City Planning this year is a Nov. 15 complaint that work was taking place on site “including grading and land movement” without a permit. The city has since issued a stop-work order, according to department records.

In 2021, two old Midtown houses on the north side of 14th Street—one that’d served as offices—were razed to make way for the development. Those properties, according to Toll Brothers’ earlier presentations, were combined with a neighboring, cleared lot where a five-story condo stack called The Dowling was proposed several years ago but didn't take off.

Along 14th Street, the site is bordered by the Mediterranean-style Windsor apartments and a row of townhouses.

City records indicate Toll Brothers Apartment Living, a division of the national homebuilding giant, applied in early 2022 for a permit to start building a 20-story tower—16 residential levels over a four-story parking deck—called “Vance on 14th.” According to Midtown Alliance, the Brock Hudgins Architects-designed tower would have included 175 units over 310 parking spaces, with no retail space planned, per initial plans.

According to a 2023 Change.org petition, requested changes to the Toll Brothers building would have added 70 units (for a total of 245) and another four stories, though floor heights would be decreased. Most of the additional apartments would have been about 150 feet from Ansley Park properties and backyards, per the petition. But the Atlanta City Council later voted to deny a special-use permit for the additional density, per petitioners.

“[Developers] are manipulating the zoning laws to greatly exceed limitations that were put in place to ensure a graceful transition from Peachtree Street to Piedmont Park and to preserve the integrity of the Ansley [Park] neighborhood aesthetic that we all love,” read the petition.  

Toll Brothers officials have agreed to supply more information as plans for the site unfold.  

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