ATLANTA | Construction Thread V

[simms3_redux]

Your friends live on the western outskirts of downtown DC, and they are in a transition area that links downtown to West End/Georgetown and to the western residential areas around Connecticut Ave/Wisconsin Ave. Your friend in Vernon Triangle is near the convention center and the hotels.

Also, DC does stretch all around and certainly feels that way, and it has great urban mixed-use areas, but I'm afraid you've barely seen the tip of the iceberg there. DC is also a lot more suburban than you may realize, and its traffic makes Atlanta's look like a breeze, even with its far superior mass transit system.

Boston is more of a real traditional city, in my opinion. Downtown is small and touristy and single-use, but almost anywhere else in Boston is going to be serious mixed-use 24-7 urban jungle. By your definition of narrow, Manhattan seems small to me then (actually was smaller to me the first time I went, but has grown "larger" with every visit the more I put it in perspective).

Chicago is certainly not as "expansive" as DC in perspective, but Streeterville packs more residents, more hotel rooms and more office space in one square mile than the most built up square mile of DC could ever hope, not to mention a much more even mix of uses (especially considering half the buildings themselves are mixes of 2-4 uses).

Next time you go to DC, fly into Dulles and take the train in - oh wait, you can't. You'll sit in thick traffic going past miles of suburbia just like you would in Atlanta if you couldn't take the train here.

(For the record, DC is absolutely one of my favorite cities on earth, just fascinating and certainly makes Atlanta look country, but it's still a ways behind other cities in this country).

[DPC]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Your friends live on the western outskirts of downtown DC, and they are in a transition area that links downtown to West End/Georgetown and to the western residential areas around Connecticut Ave/Wisconsin Ave. Your friend in Vernon Triangle is near the convention center and the hotels.

Also, DC does stretch all around and certainly feels that way, and it has great urban mixed-use areas, but I'm afraid you've barely seen the tip of the iceberg there. DC is also a lot more suburban than you may realize, and its traffic makes Atlanta's look like a breeze, even with its far superior mass transit system.

Boston is more of a real traditional city, in my opinion. Downtown is small and touristy and single-use, but almost anywhere else in Boston is going to be serious mixed-use 24-7 urban jungle. By your definition of narrow, Manhattan seems small to me then (actually was smaller to me the first time I went, but has grown "larger" with every visit the more I put it in perspective).

Chicago is certainly not as "expansive" as DC in perspective, but Streeterville packs more residents, more hotel rooms and more office space in one square mile than the most built up square mile of DC could ever hope, not to mention a much more even mix of uses (especially considering half the buildings themselves are mixes of 2-4 uses).

Next time you go to DC, fly into Dulles and take the train in - oh wait, you can't. You'll sit in thick traffic going past miles of suburbia just like you would in Atlanta if you couldn't take the train here.

(For the record, DC is absolutely one of my favorite cities on earth, just fascinating and certainly makes Atlanta look country, but it's still a ways behind other cities in this country).

Well, I didn't mean to start a this city is better than that city debate. What do you mean by transitional neighborhood? Dupont Circle and Logan Circle were in the heart of the city. They were completely built out full of highrises as far as the eye could see. There were tons of people on the streets during the day and into the late night hours and there were hundreds of restaurants. I couldn't really tell where downtown DC ends. The urban core was huge. I don't really know what each building is used for so I'm not going to get into which city is more mixed use than another city. Penn Quarter is completely built out and the convention center was pretty far from my friends apartment. He lives near the verizon center and there were tons of residential highrises all around. There were about 30 cranes in the sky in and around downtown DC and up towards Columbia Heights and my friends said they were all residential highrises going up so it was pretty overwhelming. There was this development called City Center DC which had 7 tower cranes. The thing was MASSIVE! It was like 6 blocks. I didn't come here to debate which city is the most urban in America. I was just trying to share my vision to improve our urban environment in Atlanta.

By the way, I did go into the suburbs to a couple places. We took the train to Bethesda and Silver Spring in Md as well as Arlington and Alexandria in VA which were all downtown's in their own right. I have never really seen anything like that in the suburbs of Boston or Chicago and you can't even take the T' in Boston or the L' in Chicago outside of city proper like you can in DC. You can take Metra and MBTA's commuter rail but those are not subway's and they don't run frequent like Metro or Marta. I mean, Metro runs like every 3 minutes during rush hour way out in the suburbs. It was insane! Chicago and Boston are very urban, but outside of the cities was very low density instead of high rises in a downtown setting like those places outside DC. DC does have single family homes like most metro area do in the suburbs. I have never seen suburbs with their own highrise filled downtowns complete with their own subway stops except in DC. I just liked how many downtown urban area's there were outside the city which I have not seen other than Manhattan with Brooklyn, Jersey City, and Hoboken. They are building a new metro line to Dulles airport right now by the way called the silver line. The first phase opens next year.

Either way, I just wanted to point out models I thought we could follow to better our city. I love what is happening here and the next 10 years are definitely going to be very important.

[simms3_redux]

Ok you win, DC is the most urban city. You are typing from the perspective of a googly eyed visitor, and I have more of a perspective formed not just from visits, but also real estate talks and articles, and I work for a company that owns and has owned well over a billion dollars of RE in DC metro/downtown. Now back to Atlanta, which I find to be similar to DC in many many ways (Rosslyn-Balston corridor vs Peachtree corridor, suburban spurs, metro, beltway vs perimeter, etc etc).

BTW you say you haven't seen cities with highrises and downtowns outside of the CBD, but if you live in Atlanta, you live in a city like that. Houston is like that. LA is like that. Dallas is like that. Miami is like that. Charlotte and San Antonio and Denver and Phoenix are like that. DC just does it best and connects via a very expensive metro system that has more federal support than any other metro. Like I said, it's not as "classic" a city as Boston or Chicago or San Francisco or New York (which all also have "downtowns" outside of the CBD, except for Boston). Not all of DC's business districts are connected to the metro, btw. Some of the largest, like Reston and Tysons Corner, are not. DC also has sprawl comparable to any large city with cul de sacs, low density, strip centers, etc etc.

Back to Atlanta.

PS: Downtown DC is a defined district and Dupont Circle is not considered "downtown"; it is its own neighborhood much like Adams Morgan immediately adjacent to it.


And you're right, I do think DC is a good model for Atlanta. Like I said, there are similarities there and if Atlanta could get its act together and better connect all the business districts with MARTA like DC does with the metro (we just don't have the same funding abilities as NoVA/DC), then we would have a similar situation with downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Lindbergh, Central Perimeter, Vinings, Decatur, and Emory. Plans are in the works, fortunately.

[testarossa50]

Originally Posted by scania

That's kind of unrealistic. I'm not sure where you live in Midtown, but living at Plaza Midtown, I nor anyone else living in the vicinity of PM, would walk to Ansley Park. That being said, the way the grid is setup, there isn't a large area where residents live, that would walk to Piedmont Park and or Ansley Park. If one was to live in Downtown they would use their cars, just like people living in Downtown or Buckhead for that matter.

Of course you wouldn't; Piedmont Park is closer to you than the parks in Ansley Park. If you lived in Ried House or Colony Square or lived at SCAD, that wouldn't be the case.

I might have a different idea of walking distance than some people. It's a 3/4 mile walk for me to the Park, but I make it regularly. Plaza Midtown is a little closer.

[Behind_Phipps Deux]

3330 Peachtree - Pope & Land Development to start in June

• US HQ of a European company to take 150,000 SQF
• Condos or Apartments
• TD Ameritrade to 1st floor retail
• Work to start in 6 weeks

Image release a year ago


Work Crews to return to Buckhead Atlanta

• Pre-construction phase (reworking concrete slabs and beefing up structures)

Grand Bohemian Hotel Perimeter to start by end of the year

[TarHeelJ]

Originally Posted by ATLaffinity

Those neighborhoods aren't Midtown. Piedmont Park is wonderful. I live in Midtown and don't have a park within 1.5 miles of me. So it looks different to me than to someone who sees Piedmont Park on a map. Some pocket parks would go a long way towards making Midtown a place for both singles and families.

As far as downtown, I guess I'm not thinking Castleberry or Centennial area. I suppose the Underground area is what pops into my mind and colors my opinion.

Those neighborhoods I mentioned ARE Midtown (Historic Midtown isn't Midtown?!)...I'm not looking at Piedmont Park on a map either, and there are pocket parks all around Midtown. I guess you are wanting greenspace right outside your front door, and if that's what you want then you should live somewhere with that option. Otherwise you may be required to walk a little bit to get to a park.

[testarossa50]

~20 floor hotel on 3 acres within spitting distance of a MARTA station? Way to go, Sandy Springs!

Last year we had just one or two highrise projects going on; this year we've got upwards ten. Nothing huge for the time being, but it's good to at least see cranes.

[shivtim]

There's some kind of renovation work on the Drew Eckl & Farnham Building at 8th and W.Ptree:

[AtlantaMustang]

Originally Posted by shivtim

There's some kind of renovation work on the Drew Eckl & Farnham Building at 9th and W.Ptree

Yep, and looking at 77 12th's cam (http://oxblue.com/open/brasfieldgorrie/7712thstreet), it's finally making some vertical progress.

[jpk1292000]

Originally Posted by Behind_Phipps Deux

3330 Peachtree - Pope & Land Development to start in June

• US HQ of a European company to take 150,000 SQF
• Condos or Apartments
• TD Ameritrade to 1st floor retail
• Work to start in 6 weeks

Image release a year ago


Work Crews to return to Buckhead Atlanta

• Pre-construction phase (reworking concrete slabs and beefing up structures)

Grand Bohemian Hotel Perimeter to start by end of the year

While it's not the boom years of the 1990s, this week's announcements in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, coupled with the announcement of the Baxter plant have the general development mood feeling better than it has probably since 2007. It's good to see things being built again. Of course, I'd still love to see a new 50 story building along Peachtree (not likely for a while), but things are picking up.

[DPC]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

Ok you win, DC is the most urban city. You are typing from the perspective of a googly eyed visitor, and I have more of a perspective formed not just from visits, but also real estate talks and articles, and I work for a company that owns and has owned well over a billion dollars of RE in DC metro/downtown. Now back to Atlanta, which I find to be similar to DC in many many ways (Rosslyn-Balston corridor vs Peachtree corridor, suburban spurs, metro, beltway vs perimeter, etc etc).

BTW you say you haven't seen cities with highrises and downtowns outside of the CBD, but if you live in Atlanta, you live in a city like that. Houston is like that. LA is like that. Dallas is like that. Miami is like that. Charlotte and San Antonio and Denver and Phoenix are like that. DC just does it best and connects via a very expensive metro system that has more federal support than any other metro. Like I said, it's not as "classic" a city as Boston or Chicago or San Francisco or New York (which all also have "downtowns" outside of the CBD, except for Boston). Not all of DC's business districts are connected to the metro, btw. Some of the largest, like Reston and Tysons Corner, are not. DC also has sprawl comparable to any large city with cul de sacs, low density, strip centers, etc etc.

Back to Atlanta.

PS: Downtown DC is a defined district and Dupont Circle is not considered "downtown"; it is its own neighborhood much like Adams Morgan immediately adjacent to it.


And you're right, I do think DC is a good model for Atlanta. Like I said, there are similarities there and if Atlanta could get its act together and better connect all the business districts with MARTA like DC does with the metro (we just don't have the same funding abilities as NoVA/DC), then we would have a similar situation with downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Lindbergh, Central Perimeter, Vinings, Decatur, and Emory. Plans are in the works, fortunately.

What? I'm the one who said I was not trying to get into which city is more urban or whatever. You are the one who started bringing up other cities. You are the one who said Boston is more urban than DC and Chicago is more urban than DC which really had nothing to do with what I was saying. I was just taking ideas from my visit wondering if we could apply them here. How this became a tug a war for which city you believe is more urban is beyond me. All I did was compliment your work on this site and mention somethings I saw in DC on my visit up there. I know you are more of an expert in this arena so I'll just leave it at that.

By the way, Tyson's Corner has 4 metro stops opening in 2013 and Reston has one station opening. The second phase to Dulles airport has a few more opening in Reston by 2018. It's called the Silver Metro Line. I guess when I look at the suburban DC downtown's outside the city, they look way more urban focused on living without a car. Also, they connect seamlessly to the cities urban fabric. You can't tell you have left DC if someone doesn't tell you. They are built like Atlanta's downtown which is very urban for a suburb. What suburban downtown's other than DC and NYC are built that urban with subway stops?

[DPC]

Originally Posted by jpk1292000

While it's not the boom years of the 1990s, this week's announcements in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, coupled with the announcement of the Baxter plant have the general development mood feeling better than it has probably since 2007. It's good to see things being built again. Of course, I'd still love to see a new 50 story building along Peachtree (not likely for a while), but things are picking up.

These projects are wonderful. I agree, it's good to see shovels in the ground again!

[bigstick]

How tall is this Hotel at Perimeter??

[shivtim]

CDC's Buford Highway addition is up to 9 stories:

[(four 0 four)]

Originally Posted by bigstick

How tall is this Hotel at Perimeter??

The architect's website lists it at 21 floors.
For more info and renderings... http://www.designreese.com/hotels6.php
I've seen Kessler's new construction Bohemians in Savannah and Asheville and the refurbished Mansion on Forsyth Park in Savannah. I hope this one is as fantastic as those!

The site also lists Museum Place, a hotel/condo across from the High Museum. The 2nd failed attempt on that lot...sigh.
http://www.designreese.com/hotels9.php



The crane is being installed for the medical building across from from Shephard Spinal Center!

[simms3_redux]

I senses a photo update coming this weekend - though it's supposed to be bad weather.

4 tower cranes in Midtown
6 in Buckhead
1 or 2 for the CDC
1 out at Emory

Soon to be:
1-2 in Central Perimeter
1 more in Buckhead?
1-2 downtown?
1-2 more out by Emory if they can get that new hospital tower under wraps?
1 at Piazza at Paces (Daniel project)?
1 potentially for Eastside?


Could be a TON of tower cranes up in Atlanta by the end of the year (by then subtract 2 from Midtown).

[shivtim]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

1 or 2 for the CDC

2 on site at CDC/Chamblee right now. One is for the nearly completed parking garage for the new building, while the other is for the building itself.

Update on the Drew Eckl & Farnham building - a large portion of the facade has now been either removed or covered, and all of the windows are covered. It looks like they're doing a complete overhaul of the 4 story building.

[Terminus]

While most of these are not real projects (you need to guess which are, and which aren't), we have released the draft of the Atlanta Streetcar Revitalization Strategy for public comment.

Go to the bottom of the page to see PDFs of the concept plans.

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by simms3_redux

I senses a photo update coming this weekend - though it's supposed to be bad weather.

4 tower cranes in Midtown
6 in Buckhead
1 or 2 for the CDC
1 out at Emory

Soon to be:
1-2 in Central Perimeter
1 more in Buckhead?
1-2 downtown?
1-2 more out by Emory if they can get that new hospital tower under wraps?
1 at Piazza at Paces (Daniel project)?
1 potentially for Eastside?


Sounds great looking forward to more pics, weather is about 50/50 not going to rain that much. Good luck.

Could be a TON of tower cranes up in Atlanta by the end of the year (by then subtract 2 from Midtown).

Sounds great looking forward to more pics, weather is about 50/50 not going to rain that much. Good luck.

[cityenthusiast]

Originally Posted by jpk1292000

While it's not the boom years of the 1990s, this week's announcements in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, coupled with the announcement of the Baxter plant have the general development mood feeling better than it has probably since 2007. It's good to see things being built again. Of course, I'd still love to see a new 50 story building along Peachtree (not likely for a while), but things are picking up.

While a 50 story tower would be awesome what this city really needs right now is all this 20 story towers and infill going in all over the city to make the city more walkable and denser and too get rid of more surface lots. right now id rather have 4 20 story towers rather than one 50 story tower