615 Peachtree Street building to be razed

By WALTER WOODS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/08/06

Cobb County developer Cousins Properties plans to knock down a retro office building near the Fox Theatre for its latest large-scale, mixed-use project inside Atlanta’s city limits.

Cousins will take a wrecking ball to the 12-story 1959 building, known as 615 Peachtree Street, this spring. In its place, Cousins plans to build two condo skyscrapers and a 30,000-square-foot retail center, said Larry Gellerstedt, Cousins’ president of office and residential development.

The redone 615 Peachtree development will be Cousins’ second large intown, mixed-use project in the last two years.

The company, which made a name for itself building skyline towers and wooded suburban office parks, is slowly moving toward condo, retail and office clusters located at key city intersections.

Terminus, its $170 million office and retail complex, is already under construction at Peachtree and Piedmont roads in Buckhead. The project’s first 27-story office tower, Terminus 100, is 41 percent leased and is scheduled to open in 2007.

The company also is considering residential high-rises at Terminus and is struggling with a decision to start a second office building at the site, Tom Bell, Cousins’ chief executive, told Wall Street analysts during a Tuesday call to discuss the company’s 2005 financial results.

Cousins’ move into mixed-use projects is largely market-driven. Retail sales at its open-air malls have been healthy and condos at its early projects are selling briskly, while leasing demand for its office buildings is improving but cool, executives said.

Occupancy at Cousins office buildings across the country is 88 percent, up from 85 percent a year ago.

Cousins moved into the condo business in 2004 with a 529-unit tower in downtown Miami. But the company isn’t just doing mega-developments as it wades into the housing market: a 117-unit condo development near Piedmont Park bears the mark of Gellerstedt, whom Cousins brought on board after acquiring his Atlanta-based condo development company last year.

That development, like Cousins’ Miami project, is nearly sold out. Units at both buildings start at about $200,000 and go up to $1 million.

At 615 Peachtree, Cousins plans a 30-story residential high-rise along Ponce de Leon Avenue, Gellerstedt said. A second tower, fronting Peachtree Street, will likely be a mix of homes and offices, depending on the office market, he said.

The 615 Peachtree building and its Space Age parking deck wrap around the historic 1913 Ponce de Leon Apartments condo building and front both Peachtree Street and Ponce de Leon Avenue. Wachovia Bank still is using the 615 Peachtree site, but the company will move out in the next few months.

Cousins’ new project will be across Peachtree from its signature project, the 50-story Bank of America Plaza, which Cousins built at Peachtree Street and North Avenue in 1992.