2021 Midtown Development Highlights + A Look Ahead
Projects proposed to the Midtown Development Review Committee included 1M+ square feet of office space and nearly 2K residential units.
Published: 01/12/21
A rendering of the Winship Emory Midtown cancer facility, opening in Midtown later this year.
The past year’s presentations to the Midtown Development Review Committee (DRC) unveiled a staggering degree of developments. Regardless of the circumstances of the pandemic, developers are still “all in” growing the district.
Since last January, 10 new projects were presented to the DRC in a virtual setting. The online meetings have proved popular with the community. Although in-person DRC meetings were always open to the public, virtual meetings have seen larger numbers of viewers.
“It was amazing to see the public’s interest in observing. We had an audience of over 100 during a recent meeting,” said Karl Smith-Davids, Senior Project Manager of Urban Design at Midtown Alliance.
Three of the projects presented to the Midtown Development Review Committee last year (from left to right): Cousins Properties' 887 West Peachtree Street project, Trammell Crow's "Stratus Midtown," and Rockefeller Group's 1072 Peachtree project.
Transformative New Proposals
Eight of the year’s proposals shown at the Midtown DRC were for new development projects, while two were for minor renovations and site work. In sum, this generates:
- 1.17M square feet of new office space
- 1,983 new residential units
- 60K square feet of new retail space
The scale of these developments is remarkable, with new projects ranging from 26 stories to 61 stories in height. Highlights included:
- Middle Street Partners’ dual tower project at 1081 Juniper Street (at the former Einstein’s and Joe’s on Juniper site). The 38 and 34-story towers feature 470 units and 9,000 SF street level retail.
- JPX Works’ striking residential concept on the southeast corner of 18th Street and Spring Street. The 31-story building has 325 residential units with combined lobby and leasing at the ground floor.
- Miami-based Property Markets Group’s mixed-use project at 811 Peachtree Street. The 32-story tower includes 15,600 SF ground floor retail uses, 77,000 SF office uses and 483 market rate apartment units.
- The 61-story mixed-use tower at the current U.S. Postal Service site from Rockefeller Group. The project consists of 6,600 square feet of street level retail, 212,000 office square feet, and 350 market rate residential units. If built, it would be the tallest building in Midtown in over 30 years.
- Trammell Crow’s “Stratus Midtown” at the current Delta Community Credit Union site. The curving 30-story building has 464,000 square feet of office with 13,000 SF of street-level retail and multi-purpose rooms. As part of the proposal, Crescent Ave. would be modified into a pedestrian-friendly shared street in partnership with the Atlanta History Center.
- Cousins Properties’ 26-story office tower at 887 West Peachtree St. The unique project includes 408,000 SF of office and 14,000 square feet of sidewalk-level retail including an adaptive building reuse and a new central greenspace bisecting the block.
The dual-branded Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Midtown and Element by Westin Atlanta Midtown hotels at Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue, delivered in 2021.
Delivered: Hotels, Mixed-Use Projects + More
2021 was another banner year for new deliveries and openings. The revitalized and expanded Colony Square by North American Properties was unveiled throughout the year. In the fall, Selig opened their mixed-use project featuring 1105 West Peachtree, the Epicurean Hotel and 40 12th St. condos. The month of December saw both the new Norfolk Southern Headquarters and dual Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Midtown and Element by Westin Atlanta Midtown hotel openings at the south end of the district. In total the past year of Midtown openings featured:
- 1.88M square feet of office space
- 645 new residential units
- 55K square feet of new retail space
- 460 new hotel rooms
Next Up
There are 17 active projects under construction in the Midtown Improvement District, which total:
- 2.16M square feet of office/institutional space
- 5,010 residential units
- 211K square feet of retail
- 455 hotel rooms
The next major opening we anticipate is the 455,000-square-foot Winship Emory Midtown cancer care facility at the district's south end. Crews are currently finishing construction with a scheduled opening for personalized patient care later this spring.
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