Plans are coming into clearer focus for a high-rise project that could bring Lenox Square mall and its adjacent MARTA station hundreds of new neighbors.

Texas-based developer High Street Residential is planning to build a stack of 395 apartments where Lenox Road meets East Paces Ferry Road, a corner property where Houston’s restaurant operated for decades before closing in 2018.

The Cooper Carry-designed tower would rise 30 stores, or 315 feet, according to an application for a Special Administrative Permit filed last month.

The 404,000-square-foot structure would include an architectural metal panel screen around its eight-story parking podium on the sides facing public roads. It’ll be heavy on one-bedroom options (312 units), with 22 studios and 61 two-bedroom apartments constituting the rest. The top floor calls for penthouses and both indoor and outdoor amenities, according to floorplans.

Proposals for the Lenox Road facade (left) and the one facing East Paces Ferry Road (right). Cooper Carry

None of the 395 apartments would be reserved as workforce or affordable housing, according to the application. The location isn’t within a BeltLine Overlay District, and inclusionary zoning rules don’t apply.

The proposal’s 458 parking spaces are actually less than the maximum 556 allowed. The 50 proposed spaces for bicycle parking, meanwhile, would meet the district’s minimum required.

Plans include a café space at the base along Lenox Road. About 6,600 square feet of landscaped areas and plazas are also in the works.

Plans for the base level, where Lenox Road (left) meets East Paces Ferry Road. Cooper Carry

The parcel in question spans only .9 acres, or less than 40,000 square feet, and High Street is requesting three zoning variations related to the relatively tight size of lot. The building’s plans will prioritize Lenox Road as the prominent sidewalk frontage, given the site’s orientation and plans for Complete Street upgrades along that corridor, developers note.

A JLL listing indicates the property is under contract for an unspecified price. It’s zoned for the highest mixed-use density allowed in Buckhead, with no setback requirements or caps on size. Beyond walkability to the (maximum-security) mall, the location's selling points include proximity to MARTA’s Lenox station across the street, 10-minute walkability to 9 million square feet of office space, and quick access to interstates, Ga. Highway 400, and Peachtree Street, per JLL.

The site's proximity to Lenox Square, at left. JLL/3321 Lenox Road

The Houston’s on Lenox Road, an institution for generations of Atlantans, operated for nearly 40 years across from Lenox Square before shuttering four and 1/2 years ago.

A few months prior to its closing, Atlanta rap notables Killer Mike and T.I. had called for a boycott of Houston’s after an actress and her dinner party of seven claimed they were discriminated against while waiting for a table—claims restaurant management denied. Following meetings between involved parties, a truce was later reached, and the boycott was lifted. Houston’s still operates another Buckhead location in the 2100 block of Peachtree Road.

The Lenox Road proposal wouldn’t be the first residential project in Atlanta for Dallas-based High Street, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Company. The developer is also under construction on the multifamily component of Science Square, an 18-acre project that includes biomedical research and technology space near Georgia Tech.

Find more context and visuals for the 3321 Lenox Road proposal in the gallery above. 

• Recent Buckhead news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)