Tallest Midtown office tower in nearly a decade could go vertical in January

Georgia Tech students of late probably don’t know what Midtown’s skyline looks like without a smattering of cranes. And with projects aplenty slated for the area around Tech Square, they might as well get used to it.

By the beginning of next year, Atlantans can probably count on at least one more crane being stationed on West Peachtree Street, between 7th and 8th streets.

That’s where Atlanta-based developer Cousins Properties plans to erect its 31-story 8th @ West high-rise, which is slated to bring 485,000 square feet of office space to a block just east of Tech Square.

It would be Midtown’s tallest office tower to rise in nearly a decade.

Cousins recently filed paperwork for a land development permit with the City of Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

The project is being jointly designed by Pickard Chilton and HKS Inc., and vertical construction could launch by January, the paper reported.

The proposed development site currently houses The Daiquiri Factory bar. If Cousins builds the estimated $150 to $200 million office tower there, that’ll be replaced with some 6,000 square feet of street-level retail.

Cousins, via Midtown Alliance

The blade-like 8th @ West project is just one of Cousins many endeavors to shape Midtown’s skyline, including the NCR Corp. headquarters, which opened early this year one block to the west, on Spring Street.

The company has another property under contract on West Peachtree between Ponce de Leon Avenue and 3rd Street. It’s rumored to be a prime location for railroad giant Norfolk Southern’s relocated headquarters.

Elsewhere, just a few blocks south of the 8th @ West site, John Portman and Associates is building a trio of Tech Square office projects of its own.

The 21-story Coda project, which finished vertical construction last month, is one of three Portman developments in the works on West Peachtree.

And, as evidenced by Midtown’s Development Review Committee meeting last week, the area’s skyline is primed to get even taller in years to come.

• Cousins files plans for 31-story Midtown office tower [ABC]