June 2020 DRC Recap: Cousins, Portman Present Updates for Tower Projects
Design updates for each project address transportation logistics and street-level experience, among other improvements
Published: 06/10/2020
The Midtown Development Review Committee hosted their second virtual meeting on June 9 and saw follow-up presentations from two projects, which combined will bring more than a million square feet of new office space to Midtown.
901 West Peachtree Street Project Details
The first presentation was an update from Cousins Properties on the 32-story office tower proposed at 901 West Peachtree Street.
Since their initial presentation in June 2018, Cousins acquired additional property to the east which allowed the parking garage to be reconfigured for greater efficiency and for all service and loading functions to be completely internalized. The redesigned garage now appears almost as a separate building, clad in brick and partially tucked beneath the tower. The design team looked to surrounding buildings, such as Ecco and MidCity Lofts, for inspiration on cladding the deck and creating an interesting counterpoint to the glass tower.
DRC Recommendations
Only minor issues were raised by the committee:
- Screening the new internal service drive with high speed roll down doors at each end
- Modifying the approach to the main entrance to create a direct path from the sidewalk
Apart from these, the applicant team was given full support for all variations and commended for a well-designed project.
Next Steps: The applicant will move forward with their SAP with the City.
1020 Spring Street Project Details
Portman Holdings also returned with a follow-up on 1020 Spring Street, a mixed use development with three towers organized around a historic property.
Several significant improvements were made since the previous meeting in May and these include: eliminating EFIS (synthetic stucco) on the façade of the residential tower, expanding the width of the sidewalk on Spring Street to meet the Midtown Streetscape Standards and adding a traffic signal at the north curb cut on Spring Street.
Additionally, the development team proposed reducing the width of the north curb cut on Spring by eliminating the ingress driveway. This curb cut will be egress-only which minimizes potential conflicts between vehicles and cyclists. An existing curb cut on Williams will be widened to accommodate a flex lane that will help with the AM and PM peaks for commuters using the office tower.
DRC Recommendations
The DRC commended the development team for the excellent revisions and made several requests for additional information before providing full support for the project:
- Portman agreed to provide an updated site plan illustrating the revised curb cut configuration and illustrating the circulation path for pedestrians and cyclists who wish to travel through the middle of the site for access between Spring and Williams Street.
- They also agreed to provide more detail about the north elevation of the hotel so that the committee has a clear picture of what that façade will look like. This is essential since Portman is pursuing zero lot line development on the north property line.
- With this submittal package, Portman seeks approval on a Unified Development Plan for the entire site and the vertical development associated with Phase One, which will consist of a 36-story residential tower (375 units) and the adaptive reuse of the H.M. Patterson & Son-Spring Hill Chapel building and garden. The hotel and office components will be developed in future phases.
Next Steps: The applicant will provide the requested follow-up info to the DRC within a week and, at that time, the DRC will make their recommendation for support.
View the latest Midtown development activity map on our Resource Center for a summary of these and 30+ other projects in construction, proposed or recently delivered.
