Developers Building 26-Story Apartment Tower in Buckhead

Developers are proceeding with construction of SkyHouse Buckhead, a 26-story, 362-unit high-reside apartment community on Stratford Road just off of Peachtree Road.

Novare Group, Batson-Cook Development Co. and Ackerman & Co. issued the notice to proceed for the project. They say this continues the Buckhead vision of iconic real estate developer Charles S. Ackerman, the founder and chairman of Ackerman & Co, who has owned the property and the surrounding properties including the land on which Post Stratford and Maggiano’s Little Italy were built since the 1980s.  Ackerman sold the 1.7 acre parcel to Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Company and invested in the project.  

The $72 million high rise is the team’s third in Atlanta, following SkyHouse Midtown, which opened in January, and SkyHouse South, which will open in early 2014. SkyHouse Buckhead is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2015.

SkyHouse Buckhead will be connected to the Buckhead MARTA station and the west side of Georgia 400 by a new, under-construction pedestrian bridge spanning the highway.  It is close to Lenox Square Mall and Phipps Plaza.

The community will feature residential units of one, two and three bedrooms with Whirlpool appliances, granite counter tops, nine-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass windows.  The “SkyHouse” will be on the 26th floor with a clubroom, fitness area, and outdoor plazas that include an infinity swimming pool, fireplaces, covered outdoor lounges and 360-degree views. It is aimed at Gen Y working professionals. It is a luxury community, so the rents will be competitive with other Class A high rises in the market. Those rents won't be established until the tower opens in first quarter 2015. 

“We and Batson-Cook Development Company are excited to be starting our fourth SkyHouse project with the team at UBS,” said Novare Group President Jim Borders.  “We are located on a site that Charles Ackerman assembled by knocking on doors in the 1980s when the zoning changed to allow commercial development in the area.  We have a long and beneficial relationship with Ackerman and Co. and are happy to be a part of the master development of this site.”

“Kris Miller and I have been doing business with Novare Group and Jim Borders since 1997, and we have both enjoyed seeing this project develop.  I am particularly excited about its location next to the new MARTA Georgia 400 pedestrian bridge and look forward to watching the residents take advantage of that amenity that we, MARTA and others in Buckhead have been working on for many years,” said Charles Ackerman.

Construction and permanent financing for SkyHouse Midtown, SkyHouse South and now SkyHouse Buckhead are through an investor account advised by the U.S. real estate business of UBS Global Asset Management, and NGI Investments, LLC, led by Jim Borders, Batson-Cook Development Company, and Ackerman & Co. are providing equity.   Robert LaChappelle, Jonathan Rice and Paul Berry of the Atlanta office of CBRE sourced the financing.