16 Nov Alpharetta City Center project adding newest buildings
A developer’s newest office building in Alpharetta’s emerging City Center would shun a modern glass facade in favor of brick and stone — an homage to the downtown’s past.
A development team, led by Atlanta-based MidCity Real Estate Partners and Morris & Fellows, wants to add the proposed four-story building to the City Center project, which is attempting to create a more walkable downtown filled with restaurants, boutiques and housing.
The design of the office building was influenced, in part, by Atlanta’s 180 Peachtree, also known as the former Macy’s building. MidCity’s founder and president, Kirk Demetrops, said, “We looked for inspiration from the past.”
The new building would feature about 36,000 square feet of office space and possibly two restaurants on the ground floor.
It’s one of three buildings MidCity is trying to add to the $80 million second phase of the City Center project, which is taking shape along downtown Alpharetta’s Main Street.
The master architect of the 10-acre second phase is Atlanta-based Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates Inc., the same firm involved in planning the redevelopment of several blocks in the Buckhead Village. Smallwood, Reynolds is designing the new office buildings.
The other newly proposed additions to the City Center project include a four-story building with 129 apartments and 18,890 square feet of ground-level retail. South City Partners is the apartment developer.
Another four-story building with 39 apartments and 15,780 square feet of ground-level retail is also in the design phase. South City Partners is the apartment developer.
Alpharetta owns all the parcels, or about 3.5 acres, where the newest buildings would rise. A deal for the land could close by the end of the year.
The office building could be finished and occupied by the end of 2017. The residential buildings could be finished in 2018.
The City Center may also include up to eight freestanding restaurants that could open by the end of next year.
The newest buildings go before the city’s design review board Nov. 18.
Besides Smallwood Reynolds, other architects involved in the project include Lew Oliver, Place Maker Design, and The Preston Partnership. The architecture would create the character of what Demetrops called an authentic downtown.
