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Citizens For Progressive Transit January Newsletter

January 21, 2018 by Thom Abbott

We know that transit is a major buzz word around Metro Atlanta (and the state of Georgia) these days. Sadly, city and state leaders have lagged behind in taking much action on this. But the time is now. 72% of Georgia voters want state funding to expand mass transit.

I’ve attached a monthly newsletter from the organization Citizens for Progressive Transit. It has some GREAT articles. Like the mention of the decline of Georgia’s rural population and economy. TEN YEARS ago the GA DOT discussed regional passenger trains that would like these smaller cities to Atlanta. CAn you EVEN imagine being able to live 2 hours outside of Atlanta and ride a train into the city?

Transportation Camp South 2018

Also mentioned is Transportation Camp South which will take place February 24th at Georgia Tech. The annual event brings planners, scholars and activists together for a day of learning. You can find more information on their Facebook Page.

We plan to be there this year to keep a pulse on this important conversation for Atlanta AND Georgia.

You can find the January 2018 Citizens For Progressive Transit Newsletter HERE.

North American Properties Mark Toro

January 17, 2018 by Thom Abbott

Atlanta certainly has numerous “movers and shakers” when it comes to real estate development. My good friend Scott Selig, who recently passed, is one of them. Steve Baile, also with Selig Enterprises is another. But one individual that I have always been impressed with is Mark Toro from North American Properties.

If you’ve not seen Avalon in Alpharetta….hope in the car and go. A development that barely got started, and then the market crashed. North American Properties came in and it’s amazing what is there now.

Come a little bit closer to “home” and North American Properties successfully repositioned Atlantic Station, and has since sold the retail development to another group. Now, Mark and his team are working to transform Colony Square into the next great Midtown place to be!

Atlanta Magazine, in 2015, named Mark Toro as one of the “55 Most Influential Atlantans.”

Additionally, North American Properties has been tapped to develop a mixed-used project around the Infinite Energy Center in Gwinnett County, some 30 miles from Midtown Atlanta. This is a unique public/private project, being built on land Gwinnett County owns. (The parking lots around the Arena will become garages and mixed-use buildings!

Mark is a Midtown Atlanta resident, and serves on the Midtown Alliance’s Executive Committee.

Bisnow, a business publication recently published an interview with Mark Toro, which you can find HERE.

Thanks Mark, for all that you have done, and are doing for Midtown Atlanta and beyond!

Four Housing Predictions for 2018

January 2, 2018 by Thom Abbott

Hey, it’s a New Year, right? And with it comes all kinds of predictions. Now some of them may be personal in nature, like I predict I will make the change in my routine to get to the gym more often.

Of course, those predictions don’t matter to you! But Four Housing Predictions for 2018 just might.

A recent article from HousingWire cites low inventory and rising home prices along with some other factors. The four predictions are:

The historically tight supply of single-family homes will tighten further in 2018 after hitting a record low in November 2017
The national home price boom that began in mid-2012, will continue, and given the unprecedented low levels of inventory, will even accelerate further
First-time buyers will face even higher home price gains for entry level homes
First-time buyers will continue take on even more leverage in an effort to keep up with the out-sized home price gains on entry level homes

Now first of, remember that real estate is local, local, local. So what is happening in Minneapolis may not be the same as Midtown Atlanta, nor would what’s happening in Cumming be the same as College Park. But experience does tell us that most of these are probably on track. There is a difference amongst professionals about how fast home prices will increase in the next year. Some say faster in 2018, and others say it will slow down.

Certainly in the Atlanta market, we can cite low inventory, a low days on market, and a challenge for first-time buyers to find a condo (In Midtown/Buckhead areas) or home they can afford. Prices certainly have gone up although not as dramatic as they have been. But I have seen homes realize appreciation like this:

If you are looking to buy or sell, whether in 1 month or 1 year, sit down with a real estate professional, like myself, and talk about the market, your plans, what you are looking for and be more informed as to what your options may be. Understand, things can change in a year, but at least you have some ideas.

For the details about the Four Housing Predictions for 2018, read the rest of the article HERE

The Mark at Atlanta Will Bring More Student Apartments to Midtown

November 15, 2017 by Thom Abbott

Another proposed apartment building will offer more off-campus apartments for students at Georgia Tech, and possibly SCAD. The Mark at Atlanta will eat up some more surface parking as well as three buildings.

Landmark Properties and City Life Development Partners have proposed a 28-story apartment building at the corner of Spring and 10th Streets. This is across the street from Hanover West Midtown (once upon a time the Checker’s Drive In Restaurant). This new site is a surface parking lot, Domino’s Pizza, a small old apartment building and a doctor’s office. (See Map elsewhere in this article)

The Mark at Atlanta will have 18 floors of residences, 9 levels of parking for 380 cars and street-level retail on 10th Street as well as Spring Street. (And people said nothing will happen on Spring Street…..yeah!)

This building will join SQ5 and University House that have already been built just South of this site…and further South, the under-construction The Standard. There is some market for student housing obviously in the Georgia Tech area.

Aqua Condos and The Mark at Atlanta — Aqua “04” Balconies on the left corner

While further from the SCAD campus, it might offer housing options for those students as well.

What will be challenging, is the residents that live in Aqua Condominiums, just next door. For those that own one of the “04” Stack on the West side of the building…their balconies will pretty much look right into this building! Yikes! But, I’ve always told condo buyers, that as long as there are vacant lots, or low-rise businesses on a site, they are prime to be taken for future development. And now we see it once again!

With Aqua being 25 stories, and the new building at 28, they will be neck and neck. The new site has slope to it, so the actual line-up between the two buildings remains to be seen.

The project came back through the Midtown Alliance’s Design Review Committee (DRC) on November 14, 2017. The notes from their second review of the project:

The Midtown Development Review Committee (DRC) saw a follow-up presentation for a student housing project proposed by CityLife Development Partners and Landmark Development. “The Mark at Atlanta” was presented previously in October and the committee requested more information related to the retail layout on 10th Street and the vehicular access and loading on Peachtree Place. They also recommended that the developer meet with residents of the adjacent condo tower, Aqua, to discuss concerns related to access and quality of life issues such as noise and site lines into the parking structure. Since then, the development team made significant strides in addressing all identified concerns apart from the main sticking point involving a proposed curb cut on 10th Street. The DRC was not supportive of a variation to allow the curb cut on 10th Street due to the negative impact it would have on traffic flow along this corridor and the potential for traffic and pedestrian conflicts given its proximity to an existing curb cut on the adjacent property. Further, 10th Street is viewed as a preferred location for retail and restaurant space and removing the curb cut allows more opportunity to activate the street level with those types of uses. The committee recommended an alternative location for the curb cut on Spring Street. The development team is exploring this option and other modifications and intends to proceed with an electronic review before the end of the year.

Food Halls and Apartments – Can Atlanta BE Creative?

October 24, 2017 by Thom Abbott

NOTE: This is an editorial-type blog post….with my thoughts.

Food Halls and Apartments – Can Atlanta BE Creative?

I have numerous sources of information that I review daily. I find articles that I think MY readers will find of interest, and I use social media to share them….Facebook, Facebook Business, Instagram and Twitter. It’s not all about real estate, but about the lifestyle in the markets or communities I serve. I want you to know that I’m knowledgeable, but also that I can share with you the cool things about why you should, or would want, to live there.

And I look at the big picture. Like the Midtown Skyline with its square buildings. Seriously!! Look at most of the buildings being built now. Square, glass blocks. Nothing creative. Well maybe NCR. But the rest of them. Certainly nothing to drewl over. Gosh, if I was a developer, I’d be asking my architect to design me a building that when people were driving the Downtown Connector and looking at the skyline, they would be saying, “WOW…look at that building!”

Currently, Atlanta (in general) is all about Food Halls and Apartments. It’s our rage, if you will. A Food Hall will anchor the redevelopment of Colony Square. A Food Hall will be part of the CODA building near GATech. A food hall even way out in Alpharetta at some development who’s name escapes me at the moment.

Everywhere you look…you see those cranes? 90% of them are building FOR RENT apartments, not anything you can buy. I always wonder what that does to a community? So many residents with no “roots?” Do you HAVE to own a home or condo to have roots in a community? I suppose not, but I certainly think you have a more vested interest in a community when you “own” a part of it.

So when will Atlanta hit the “apartment crash?” I mean, it really has to be coming. It’s not like we have an Amazon moving to Atlanta every month….and so many jobs to provide the people to fill all these apartments? But, I guess the developers know better than I, right? Ah…not so fast.

I can remember standing on Peachtree Street looking North and saying, “all this construction is great, but where are all the people coming from to buy all these condos?” And a year or so later…well…you know how that story ended.

How come we can’t create something unique? I read once that Yumbi was going to open a restaurant in a shipping container....never saw it happen. Are we becoming a boring place to be? I’d like to think not…with all the cool tech start-ups and all that are happening in Midtown.

I just wonder where the next Food Hall or apartment building will be.

Colony Square Announces Plans for Main and Main

THE COLLECTIVE, ATLANTA’S LATEST FOOD HALL

15th Street Extension Midtown Atlanta Seeks Engineers

June 16, 2017 by Thom Abbott

As Midtown Atlanta grows, and grows….and grows, it’s a simple fact that not everyone that works in Midtown will LIVE in Midtown. (Sad, but true!) And getting around on the streets is a big factor. Enter the 15th Street Extension.

This gap in the Midtown Street grid from West Peachtree Street to Williams Street might not seem like a big deal..but with all the development happening now along West Peachtree Street, this is a street that is needed!

15th Street Extension

This map does not show the new AMLI Midtown apartment building that is about to open on the parking lot with all the cars in it. (See the star) Overall, this extension will be MOST helpful to many residents and Midtown workers alike to get to Williams Street, an one-way Northbound that helps commuters gain access to I-75 North.

The project will include new traffic signals, sidewalks, streetscaping and bike lanes. You can see the Arts Center MARTA station in the upper right. Also, long, long term plans call for another bridge across the Downtown Connector, with 15th Street adding additional connectivity to West Midtown.

Nothing happens quickly with road construction however. According to Kevin Green, Midtown Alliance President and CEO, the environmental studies for the project could take two years, followed by 12-18 months of construction. That sounds about like 2021, right? Sigh.

While we try to keep up with all that is Midtown Atlanta…and there is plenty happening these days….you might want to check out the Midtown Alliance website for LOTS of things that are Midtown Atlanta!

Transportation Camp South 2018

Food Halls and Apartments – Can Atlanta BE Creative?

15th Street Extension

PalmerHouse Properties