SkyHouse Buckhead Officially Breaks Ground

Construction is officially underway for SkyHouse Buckhead, a 26-story, 362-unit high-rise apartment community on Stratford Road just off of Peachtree Road.

The $72 million high rise is the third SkyHouse in Atlanta from the team of Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Company, following the previously opened SkyHouse Midtown, and SkyHouse South, which will open in early 2014 also in Midtown.

Prep work had previously begun on the project that is a continuation of the Buckhead vision of longtime real estate developer Charles S. Ackerman. The founder and chairman of Ackerman & Co., 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.

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.

The community will feature residential units of one, two and three bedrooms with high-end finishes and floor-to-ceiling glass. The “SkyHouse” will be on the 26th floor with a club room, fitness area, and outdoor plazas that include an infinity swimming pool, fireplaces, covered outdoor lounges and 360-degree views. 

The environmentally sustainable and Energy Star certified project is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2015.

“We and Batson-Cook Development Company are excited to be starting our fourth SkyHouse project with the team at UBS,” Novare Group President Jim Borders said in a news release. “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.”

Said Ackerman: “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.”

As with SkyHouse Midtown and SkyHouse South, an investor account advised by the U.S. real estate business of UBS Global Asset Management is providing construction and permanent financing for the project, 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.

SkyHouse is a multi-family program with projects in four states representing an investment nearing $500 million. The towers are aimed at Generation Y professionals who want to live in urban infill areas close to business centers, night life, culture and public transportation.

“With more than 4 million people turning 22 every year for the next four years and given the unique and attractive employment characteristics of Buckhead, we see this market maintaining strong future growth and believe SkyHouse will be extremely well received” Mark Stewart, Director of Investments, Batson-Cook Development Company, said in the release.

SkyHouse Buckhead follows the completed SkyHouse Midtown, Orlando and Austin projects and projects underway in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh.