BUCKHEAD MARTA STATION POISED TO BENEFIT FROM UNPRECEDENTED $400 MILLION PROJECT

By Doug Sams, Atlanta Business Chronicle

A 70-acre mixed-use development next to the Bankhead MARTA station is the latest spark contributing to the revitalization of Atlanta’s long overlooked neighborhoods just west of the city.

The transit-oriented project is led by former Atlanta Braves and Georgia Tech star Mark Teixeira, who is teaming with Urban Creek Partners Jimmy Barry and Joel Bowman.

They will unveil the project, to be known as Quarry Yards, this morning. Its $400 million first phase is zoned for up to 575,000 square feet of office space, a 300-key hotel, 75,000 square feet of stores and restaurants and 850 residential units. It would become the largest-ever investment in the area, which includes the Grove Park neighborhood.

Urban Creek Partners has lined up Pollack Shores Real Estate Group to develop the project's apartments, and it has entered discussions with a retail partner on a food hall.

The development reflects the convergence of several important projects and trends in the area, including the Bellwood Quarry, the continued emphasis on transit-focused investment around MARTA and the expansion of the Atlanta Beltline.

West Midtown, which Teixeira called his favorite area of the city, is seeing development expand westward from the neighborhoods around Georgia Tech.

“We are going to form the western edge of this area’s densest development,” said Teixeira, who has been an advocate for the revitalization of Atlanta’s Proctor Creek neighborhoods for years.

The creek has been a long neglected and polluted stretch of water. Proctor Creek’s neighborhoods watched commerce decline, warehouses go vacant and homes fall into disrepair as other parts of the city flourished.

In 2008, Teixeira and Bowman began an effort to revitalize the area known as the Emerald Corridor Foundation. Now, more developers are considering new projects in the area.

Teixeira said the potential transformation for the neighborhoods reminds him of Hudson Yards, the giant project in Manhattan. It's because, like Hudson Yards, investment is pouring back into a part of Atlanta that had been under-appreciated.

Quarry Yards could turn an area that has been inactive for many years into a thriving community that creates jobs, unprecedented connections to nature and a range of new experiences for residents office tenants and visitors, Bowman said.

The project's design is led by HKS Architects and Populous. Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor. CBRE Inc. is leading leasing efforts.

Read the full story here.