Lenox mall owner in deal to build condos nearby
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/12/06
The company that runs Lenox Square mall is teaming up with Miami-based Related Group for a luxury residential development on a 3- to 4-acre parcel behind the mall in Buckhead.
“Simon has approached us about doing a joint venture,” said Robert Dorfman, Related’s senior vice president. “We have embraced that concept as they have.”
|
|
It’s the first foray into Atlanta residential for the city’s mall king and makes use of a long-underused piece of prime real estate.
Details remain incomplete, but an application filed with the Atlanta Regional Commission calls for 700 units in two towers to be completed by 2010.
Dorfman, who is also spearheading Related’s 19-acre CityPlace development on nearby Roxboro Road, said the Lenox Towers development will contain smaller, loft-style condominiums styled to provide a “unique interior design” targeting a different buyer than those at CityPlace.
“They will be younger, a buyer who likes and wants to shop at Lenox [Square mall]. There will probably not be nearly as many families as we would get at CityPlace,” Dorfman said.
Related hopes to break ground on the project in late 2007, according to Dorfman.
Simon currently owns the land Lenox Towers will occupy. Negotiation on details of the deal are ongoing, Dorfman said.
“Obviously, there are going to be some synergies” between the mall and the loft development, Dorfman said. “If it’s not good for them, it’s not good for us.”
The location overlooking Georgia 400 and MARTA tracks will offer “incredible views,” Dorfman said. That proved a strong incentive on the deal for Related, which is hoping this might be the beginning of a wider-ranging partnership with Simon.
“We’re very excited about this,” Dorfman said. “We’re thinking that this collaboration of Simon and Related could lead to other opportunities outside Atlanta.”
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Boom or Bust: Miami 