Goodbye, Concrete Church. Hello, 386 New Apartments!

Buckhead's ability to get taller by the day rivals even the fastest-growing adolescent boy. The down-with-the-short-and-up-with-the-tall trend will likely continue at the corner of Peachtree and Stratford roads, where the brutalist Christian Church of Buckhead may soon be replaced with a 386-unit tower. Miami-based developer Related Group presented its plans for the 2.3-acre lot to the Development Review Committee earlier this month.

Related Group, which was the developer behind the original, failed CityPlace project just down the road, says the 3372 Peachtree Road development would be built in two phases. The first would feature two stories of commercial space fronting Peachtree along with 386 residential units. According to plans, those units would be 15 percent studios, 35 percent one-bedroom, 35 percent two-bedroom and 15 percent three-bedroom units. The project's second phase might not start for another five years.

The proposed residential tower would be just a block from the 23-story, 329-unit Cyan development — nestled between the 26-story, 362-unit SkyHouse tower and Maggiano's Little Italy, which will stay because all those residents have to get their spaghetti somewhere. The rapid creation of high-density housing in the area is sure to do one of two things: (a) help transform Buckhead into a truly walkable region or (b) turn the whole area into a traffic nightmare and total fiasco. Place your bets and hope for the former, but keep in mind that the new development does feature 734 dedicated parking spaces.

The committee recommended that some spots be designated as and reserved for MARTA parking and that the parking deck be screened from view, permanently on the west side and temporarily on the east side. (Once Phase 2 is complete, the second tower will shield the parking deck from view on the east side.)

The 419-foot tower was designed by Smallwood Reynolds Stewart, Stewart, a firm that has done its share of shaping Atlanta's skyline with projects such as the Mandarin Oriental, 3344 Peachtree, Aqua Midtown, the Buckhead Grand and The Atlantic at Atlantic Station, among others.

For context, this new proposal would be roughly as tall as Buckhead's 2828 Peachtree, built back in 2002.

· Concrete Church Could Go Way of Dante's: Down the Hatch [Curbed Atlanta]
· 3372 Peachtree Road – Related Group [Livable Buckhead]
· Related Group presents plans for Buckhead tower [Atlanta Business Chronicle]