Atlanta is preparing for major construction projects that could make the Midtown area taller, denser, and more pedestrian-friendly.
Most notably, developer Trillist has big plans for its long-anticipated 1138 Peachtree Street development.
The project will create a 46-story, residential-heavy mixed-use tower at a nearly one-acre site where a handful of high-rise projects—such as a Mandarin Oriental hotel—have fizzled over the years.
Midtown Alliance officials noted the tower could ascend more than 550 feet, potentially ranking it among Atlanta’s top 15 tallest buildings—and the highest built in more than a decade.
In the works since 2013, the Trillist development will feature 317 luxury apartments and about 10,000 square feet of ground-level retail space fronting Peachtree Street and Crescent Avenue.
The project will also include a nine-floor parking deck with 450 spaces.
Midtown board members raised concerns about how the parking deck’s facades would fit against the community’s urban backdrop, and about how the retail space would engage passersby.
“The retail space within the ground floor of the Crescent frontage does not meet minimum depth requirements, nor does the elevation meet requirements which specify the appearance of a horizontally storied building for the first three floors.”
Officials also said Trillist and architects at Smallwood need to further assess the pedestrian connectivity between Peachtree Street and Crescent Avenue.
Also in the works are plans for the Campanile building expansion, which will get underway just across the street from Trillist’s project, at 1155 Peachtree.
The base of the late-1980s office building owned by the Dewberry Group will be wrapped in a six-floor, 125,000-square-foot retail podium.
In the podium, new floors will align with the existing floors of the office tower to create office floor plates of approximately 45,000 square feet, as well as new terraces on the fourth and sixth floors, which promise sweeping views of outdoor amenity spaces for office tenants.
City officials are focused on designs for the “generous public space” near the tower’s front entrance, along with elements related to the streetscape on all four sides of the block.
Developer MDM Group has big plans for the Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo, slated to be the largest hotel in South Florida when it opens in late 2021.
The expo center fronts the four large, curved towers that are very dramatic and vertically oriented. At night, the horizontal stripes on the development will light up. NBWW is the architect on the project.
“Many don’t realize how big it is,” the architect said, citing the Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s 1,500 rooms.
Exhibit space will include a 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall ground floor, a 65,000-square-foot main ballroom, a 45,000-square-foot junior ballroom, 390,000 square feet of other meeting space, and a 10,000-square-foot, 1,500-seat lecture hall — all for a total of 610,000 square feet.
The hotel will be located within steps of Miami Worldcenter’s shopping mall, which will include a Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.
The 27-acre development is within a quarter of a mile of All Aboard Florida and Tri-Rail stations.“All Aboard Florida is the linchpin,” the developer said. “This whole area is going through a massive change. We’re excited to be around it.”
Developers received approval from the city of Miami for the first phase, which will include the 765,000-square-foot mall, the 470 unit Paramount Miami Worldcenter condo tower and a newly announced apartment tower.
The hotel and expo center will generate the need for an additional 2,400 hotel rooms in the area.
Bill Talbert, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the development will complement, not compete, with the planned Miami Beach Convention Center renovation and expansion, which includes an 800-room hotel. “These are complementary. Miami Beach has four halls, this has one. There are some folks who want to be in a downtown environment,” Talbert said.
The Marriott brand, he said, “is the No.1 brand in this community. Marriott sells.”
The hotel will offer 1,800 rooms on levels six through 54, and valet parking for 1,094 spaces.
The hotel and expo component is expected to create more than 1,300 permanent jobs, $175 million in annual revenue and $14.8 million in annual city and county tax revenue through 2045.
Atlanta is preparing for major construction projects that could make the Midtown area taller, denser, and more pedestrian-friendly.
