Glaring proofread fail: "23 story 320-story luxury high-rise apartment." Not only once, but twice!

Ouch, mistakes happen. Thanks, correction made.

I think I'n going to have to mobilize a fight against this. A massive parking deck dominating the corner of Juniper at 7th is not appropriate for Midtown. The deck needs to be hidden in the middle of this property. The only evidence of a deck should be it driveways. We need pedestrian-oriented streetscape! Why must we go through this every time? This is not a new or risky concept for the heart of an urban environment. Have these developers ever been to Europe or NYC?

Wow check out that parking deck, aesthetics be damned Atlantans need their cheap parking no matter what. That thing is hideous and is going to take up that space for at least the next 25 years. Does no one really care what developers build in this city?

Novare developing a monstrosity of a parking deck where great retail would go? SHOCKING. Oh wait, no it's not... see "Skyhouse" among others...

Oh wait, is this a story about Skyhouse? I COULDN'T TELL BECAUSE ALL THEIR BUILDINGS LOOK THE SAME!!!!

Are there any awards for Worst Developer of the Year/Decade? Because I know who would win...

The parking deck is a necessity - apartments would be hard to lease without them. But, this deck is so ugly. Retail frontage would help...if you could find tenants to fill them.

I like it. I live about 2 blocks away and look forward to the additional support businesses. The new residents should bring additional restaurants, retail, and entertainment. Bring it on.

It looks like to me that the parking is elevated above street level, if so level one streetscape is almost entirely retail.

Norave should be ashamed of themselves. We need developers with vision and talent. This group of hacks should get out of the business.

Well, hope that the Dakota condo owners and the less powerfull residential units on the east side of Juniper St enjoy the crappy view this will give them. The parking garage is a mess...looks ugly, is a waste of good street/sidewalk frontage, damages the residential and commercial aspects that the neighborhood is trying desperately to save and expand. Not only can it be done much better, but the neighborhood residents deserve better..now we have to demand something better!

I bet Novarre will be promoting and highlighting the "great walking and shopping choices" residents of this new building will have, while building this parking deck that is basically the exact opposite.

I really think the parking structure should have retail space fronting Juniper Street... Even though the spaces are currently vacant, the 12th & Peachtree development has retail on the street level facing Juniper... If nothing is built to support retail, we'll continue to have disconnected patches of retail along Juniper. Not all retail has to be on Peachtree or it's cross streets.

I am excited about this project, but I do think this plan from Novare needs to address their parking deck's lack of street level retail before it moves forward.

This building looks like a cheaper Atlantic. Not only are all of their buildings the same within a city, search for Mosaic in Houston, TX. With only minor changes, they've basically copied Metropolis. If ONLY there was a way for creative design and high profit to coincide!!

"The parking deck is a necessity"

This is not a discussion about whether or not parking should be a part of the project. Of course its necessary. The question is the livability of the Midtown neighborhood and the impact of a massive, hideous parking deck on that neighborhood. This is simply NOT the way to do parking in an urban area - at least not any urban area where people actually WANT to live.

This (http://media.dtsph.com/sites/11alive.com/files/imagecache/story615/110617034304_77_2012th_20Street_20Front_0.jpg ) is under construction right now in the same market conditions as Novare is building so can people stop pretending as if this is the only way this project gets built. There is no excuse for such an utter lack of civic responsibility by Novare.

77 12th street's view from 11th street will be concealed by a future development on 11th street which will most likely be extremely close making the parking deck invisible from 11th street. Kudos to Selig for putting thought into the design and future area growth.

"That's the pretty side. You forgot to see what it looks like from 11th St"

If you'll notice, the entire project will only consume half of the block, leaving room for other building(s) and in fact Daniel/Selig have another residential tower planned for that space which will cover the deck. This is the PROPER way to do urban development. The only reason its visible at all is because Midtown has places like this that go from surface lot to highrise. In a more built-out city, this would never be an issue.

"Viewpoint1 only took up half a block too. Original renderings showed 2 towers more w/ integrated amenities deck on a podium. Things change."

All that statement proves is that Novare is unwilling to stick to their original plans and utilize the land properly. They have earned their tarnished reputation.

The 12th and Midtown development alone reflects how much more polished Selig's projects are. If they have anything to do with the parcel on 11th street I am confident they will utilize it fully. If someone else gets that parcel their structure would still cover the deck on 77... unless Novare buys it and tosses up a random parking deck for fun :)

Kudos to Selig and Atlanta developers that care about aesthetics for local residents and not about maximizing a cookie cutter model.

Novare and Jim Borders are a joke. Their legacy is getting set in stone. I didn't think things could get worse than Twelve Cent..........

"Their legacy is getting set in stone"
Actually, I was thinking more cheap concrete, tiny balconies and parking podiums.

How is it ok to build the same apartment tower within 5 blocks of each other...

Rendering of the this new apartment tower at 6th street:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/atlanta/real_talk/100%206th%20Street%20large.jpg?v=1

Elevation of the "skyhouse" apartment tower now under construction at 12th and crescent:
http://assets.bizjournals.com/atlanta/skyhouse%201.jpg?v=1

As an architect, the garage location is the only noticable difference between the two buildings and as an urban planner both designs put it in the wrong place.

The cookie cutter neighborhoods of Alpharetta are moving to midtown in tower form.

I am really amazed that no one has commented from the viewpoint of well, The Viewpoint... I suspect it's because I am one of FEW residents who has any clue about this proposed building that is about to congest Juniper, interfere with our already limited "dog area" and block most of our sun deck...not to mention, block floors 11-23s downtown views of the city... There goes any chance of an investment when it's time to sell. Rest assure this building isn't going up without a fight!

Hey JustinK
I am so glad you have taken the time to monitor this thread and made sure to read everyone's concerns & frustrations and ridicule them for it! I am so happy to know you're watching out for us and the "silly things" we say!

I wonder if you can get a disposall installed in the tub?

It seems like a feasible solution to the Juniper and 7th Street issues would be to sell off a strip for 3-story stick-built townhouses or live/work units between the deck and the streets. You can do some fairly nice urban liner buildings in 20-25 or 40-45 feet (the difference being the orientation of the unit, the latter is better). Novare wouldn't have to built these (the buyer would) and they would screen building without adding signficantly to the cost of the deck. "Pocket parks" on leftover land and "display windows" are insulting.

Stupid stupid stupid idea. That would actually add to the aesthetic of Atlanta and we don't do that in this city (or any other one we build in for that matter). Who do you think you are coming up with better ideas... this guy? http://whatnowatlanta.com/2011/08/29/architectural-feud-designer-challenges-novare-to-a-duel-over-its-proposed-midtown-apartment-highrise/

The one plus to all of Novare's recent designs for their multifamily developments (they are also building a Skyhouse in Austin) is that they are as affordable as they come for high rise urban living. $1.80-$1.95/SF for rent with decent finishes, amenities, location, parking and views. As soon as you start adding more complicated construction, a tighter/non-graded sight (like 77 12th's), better finishes, etc etc the apartments become unaffordable for the Atlanta market.

77 12th St will reportedly be renting similarly to Skyhouse on a monthly basis, but you will get less SF so the rent/SF will be higher (pushing $2.00 and up?). I could be wrong here...

Also, I'd like to see Juniper become more of a pedestrian street with shops, businesses, and restaurants (it is partially there in a low-level way), but we haven't even come close to filling up retail space on Peachtree yet. I live down the street from Skyhouse and am considering, and I have no problem with the garage on the Spring St side (it's not like retail is going to be going in on that street any time soon).

Obviously Novare is trying to make a certain return. Jack up the garage a floor and put stick townhouses or more retail out front that won't lease up and you're only going to jack up the rental prices because they have to make that money back somewhere (and I'm betting they're going for rapid stabilization...which won't happen with $2500-$3500 2BRs).

I've always been a fan of the Novare Group, they like me and others that have migrated here saw the potential of Atlanta's intown and jumped all over it, but everything after Metropolis is just disappointing you can hide the parking deck and still keep their affordability they know this, they also understand a street scale the fact that all this got through planning meetings is just sad....

Can someone please inform me/us (the public) when and where these meetings are? All I got from this article is it was a Tuesday night. And is the general public allowed in? With so much negativity towards every Novare design, it amazes me that SOME voices aren't heard at these meetings... or are they? Has anyone thats posted on here ever been?

Venting after the fact about these horrible planning decisions is easy for all of us to do but I would much rather (attempt to at least) hold Novare and the midtown DRC accountable for their designs/decisions when they are being made... knowing when and where to do that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Meetings of the City of Atlanta Midtown SPI-16 & Piedmont SPI-17 Development Review Committees are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 999 Peachtree Street. Typically, meetings of The City of Atlanta's Historic Piedmont SPI-17 DRC begin at 4 p.m., followed by The City of Atlanta's Midtown SPI-16 DRC at 5:30 p.m. Contact Midtown Alliance to confirm agenda items and meeting times at 404-892-4782. The next meeting is scheduled for June 12 and all meetings are open to the public.

I attended the meeting last Tuesday. There is little to no room for the public to raise questions. Jim Borders came with his architect from Smallwood Reynolds Stewart Stewart, as well as with an expert on city zoning. Mr. Borders did very little talking. Points were debated by the round table, one guy in the audience (presumably the author of this article) was taking pictures. Other members of the audience were waiting their turn to present their plans (a couple restaurants along Peachtree), and then there was me in the back on my laptop halfheartedly listening.

These meetings aren't really meant for public dialogue and debate; they are mostly to get some form of approval for requested variances. There were 7 variances for Novare's project and 6 were approved at the meeting. There was discussion after all the groups presented, and I was ushered out (and the doors closed).

The same design firm has also accomplished some of the most stunning designs in Atlanta (3344 Peachtree, 3630 Peachtree, Streets of Buckhead, Georgian Terrace Hotel). All of the nice designs have higher priced office, higher priced condos, higher retail rents and higher priced hotel rooms. In fact, there is a corellation between how nice the building is and how expensive it is.

Someone please find me new highrise construction in other urban areas with rents below $2/SF per month. It's not just the land basis that affects the bottom line. It's cost of capital, time to stable, & const. cost

I am happy that someone is building in town residential space. A new building with rents higher than the competition will fail to attract enough renters and will result in an empty foreclosed building. I welcome the additional density and pedestrian traffic to midtown. Additional tax base and consumers are good for us.

You can't use regulation to force construction costs above what the market will support because it simply won't get built. The lenders and the developers have to be convinced they can rent enough units to payback the loan. We should be delighted construction activity is returning and hope this is the beginning of a resurgence. As density increases rents increase and more capital becomes available and land becomes scarce it is then we can start imposing strict regulation because costs can be recovered by higher $/sf.

Great recap midtown renter and thanks for the info.

Donald, I think we all agree increasing density is great and saving money is (almost) always an issue to developers but...

Do you believe that every building built in this state/ country/ world that are similar in scale and budget have to look the same? I surely hope not. Novare is simply and deliberately choosing not to change their designs WHATSOEVER, no matter how many buildings they build. That point, in addition to the fact that they don't seem to have any problem slapping huge parking decks wherever they deem fit, without thinking about how those impact and integrate with the surrounding area is a blatant disregard to the city of Atlanta and the long term impact their buildings have on the city and purely driven by greed.

Sometimes I think Novare execs sit in their offices and say, "let's see how many of the same building we can build in a city before we actually get turned down."

I'm not sure what's going on in the office but, with Metropolis they showed us they know how to put a project in a urban space that works, they know how Andres Duany turned around Post Properties model of how urban space should look, how hideous strip malls should never be permitted inside intown spaces. Look at the contrast of the upcoming Ponce Park and that unwalkable, unconnected mess across the street. I think the massive response to this is that we know they are also aware of all of this, we just look up disbelieving and ask why?

I was recently in Midtown and made this short video of Skyhouse, 77 12th Street & Hilton Garden Inn under construction: http://youtu.be/YUQEYR0UpSQ

According to a story today from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the 2-acre tract across the street from the High Museum could be sold in June. The buyer hopes to build a $150 million, 30-story tower five a 5-star, 150-room hotel, 70 luxury condos and 24 penthouses. http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2012/05/25/high-museum-property-in-play.html

Site preparation has begun! See video here: http://youtu.be/wIm7Y-nqMZs

Note that the Design of the Parking Deck will have retail frontage the entire length of Juniper and 6th. I am involved with the project.