Unveiled: Portman-designed Midtown tower will house 3,000 IT professionals

The explosive growth of Midtown’s Tech Square is roaring on this week in a significant way.

Fortune 500 health benefits company Anthem announced a partnership today with Portman Holdings to develop a 21-story tower in the burgeoning Midtown submarket. Expected to break ground in January, the project will replace parking lots at the corner of 4th and West Peachtree streets.

That’s next door to Portman’s under-construction Coda tower, in the hotbed of innovative research facilities, incubators, and startups that Tech Square has become. The area is already home to Anthem’s Innovation Studio.

By early 2020, officials expect the 352,000-square-foot Anthem Technology Center, designed by the John Portman & Associates firm, will open as a hub for about 3,000 multi-disciplinary IT pros.

Luckily (and probably not coincidentally), a MARTA station is about two blocks away.

Sources had previously indicated that Portman Holdings could have two towers in store for the block, to include residences and ground-floor retail. A press release today makes no mention of plans for a second building.

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Anthem lands at No. 29 on this year’s Fortune 500 list. So it’s hardly surprising that city officials and boosters sounded giddy about the news.

The subliminal message of prepared statements: Hey, Amazon, look at this!

Said Mayor Kasim Reed in the release: “Major investments by Fortune 500 companies like Anthem continue to demonstrate that Atlanta is a destination for growing businesses, offering them access to highly skilled professionals, leading academic research facilities, and a forward-thinking business community focused on innovation.”

Added Pat Wilson, Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner: “When we announced last year that Anthem would create 1,800 jobs in Atlanta, it unquestionably solidified our status as a leading city for technology innovation and talent.”

Rendering: Portman Holdings

• In Midtown, block-filling Portman project could move forward within months [Curbed]