An Old Fourth Ward condo project that’s made waves in recent years for its unusual height and sky-high asking prices is switching course in a drastic way.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced project leaders to reconsider plans for Ten Park East, which was expected to climb a dozen stories over Historic Fourth Ward Park with condos beginning at $2.1 million. Those price points would have been higher than anything in O4W history, rivaling the top-tier towers of Midtown and Buckhead.

But that’s all been scrapped in favor of a concept with three large townhomes on the site, each rising five stories and topped with sixth-floor roof decks, according to sales rep Allen Snow, an Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty associate broker.  

The previous 12-story condo concept.
Ten Park East

Pricing and floorplans are still being finalized with developer Live Oak Realty Investments, but Snow tells Urbanize Atlanta the townhomes should list in the ballpark of $2 million.

In an era of social apprehension, when people’s homes have become “offices, classrooms, gyms, restaurants, theaters, and everything in between,” a mid-rise tower with shared amenities and elevators created “a number of significant challenges,” Snow wrote in an email.  

“But the impact of the pandemic and the stay-at-home experience has us thinking about how architecture and design can respond to and support the new notions of home,” says Snow.

That response, in the case of Ten Park East, could materialize as massive square footages—4,650 per unit—spread across the five stories and connected with private elevators.

The goal is “to create space that is safer than a traditional condominium and more flexible and adaptable than a traditional townhome,” says Snow.

Aerial of the three townhomes proposed.
Ten Park East

At ground level, the three-bedroom dwellings would include backyards, covered patios, and two-car garages with storage. One full floor would be designated as the master suite, with a sitting area.

Elsewhere, dining rooms would be “banquet size,” and another floor would be reserved for home offices, gyms, or a “learning pod” for the kiddos. Top floors would be 1,100-square-foot flex space for entertaining or other purposes (or these levels might be eliminated entirely, Snow says), and rooftops would span 1,000 square feet, framing views from downtown to Ponce City Market, per marketing materials.

Though the top floors would be only half as high as originally planned, Snow says “the views will still be amazing.” 

Still, fetching around $2 million would trounce the O4W record for townhome sales. It’s currently held by the SPX Alley townhomes fronting the BeltLine’s Eastside Trail near Krog Street Market, which have traded for as high as $1.28 million—for 2,500 fewer square feet than what Ten Park East is proposing.

No timeline for a groundbreaking or estimated delivery was available.

When initially pitched at 21 stories in 2018, the condo project drew the ire of neighbors. Developers shrank the building and beefed up floorplans—it would have included just 10 condos total—with units on higher floors asking $2.7 million, an astronomical number for O4W. 

The townhomes would join a groundswell of development that’s transformed the blocks around Historic Fourth Ward Park over the past decade. The site’s neighbor across the street is New City’s billion-dollar Fourth Ward Project, where the first office towers are expected to open in late 2022.

• Old Fourth Ward (Urbanize Atlanta)

• Fresh renderings: Where the biggest BeltLine development to date stands now (Urbanize Atlanta)