Rumor has it Paces Properties is angling to buy a vacant, 20-story downtown office building that overlooks The Connector and reshape into an apartment tower. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Paces has placed 250 Piedmont Ave. under contract, in hopes of launching the latest in a series of large, adaptive-reuse projects in Atlanta. Specs show the building, which was most recently home to SunTrust Banks before the lender relocated, was built in 1975 and encompasses 362,000 square feet, with 200 parking spaces.
The 250 Piedmont Ave. project would join Ponce City Market, the nine-story 550 Pharr Road building in Buckhead, and an abandoned hotel downtown that are being converted to apartments or student housing. Could this finally be downtown's turn to score on the large residential projects popping up elsewhere across Atlanta? "There's been more capital and more emphasis on these urban areas, including downtown," one expert told the Atlanta Business Chronicle. "I think this could be another example of downtown getting its mojo back."
The newspaper notes the project would be part of a national adaptive-reuse trend, in which investors are scooping up and converting low-demand office buildings into residential or mixed-use developments. One huge perk: cost savings. But if Paces wants to include balconies with their apartments, we're guessing they'll have their work cut out for them here.
[Photo: CoStar;CassidyTurley]
· 250 Piedmont Ave NE • Atlanta Center [Cassidy Turley]
· Downtown office tower may become apartments [Atlanta Business Chronicle]
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