One million dollars a month. That’s what a new developer has been spending for the last five months to draw up plans, seek permits and otherwise restart the Streets of Buckhead project.

And that’s before the developer has completed buying the long-stalled, half-built project at the intersection of Peachtree and East Paces Ferry roads.

Dene Oliver, chief executive officer of San Diego-based OliverMcMillan, hopes to be the new owner. He was here Thursday speaking to several hundred retail real estate professionals at an event sponsored by France Publications, Atlanta-based publishers of Shopping Center Business and Southeast Real Estate Business.

OliverMcMillan specializes in mixed-use urban projects, and has been in the process of buying the project for several months. Envisioned as a “Rodeo Drive of the South,” Atlanta developer Ben Carter assembled the land and started building the high-end retail district, but recently lost control of it due to the long recession.

Oliver told the audience he’s “98 percent” certain he’ll own the six-block project by month’s end. Cranes will begin moving by year end or in early 2012, he said.

Planning costs are high, he said, because some architectural drawings hadn't been completed, and he’s making “serious modifications” on other portions.

Plans still call for two luxury apartment towers, shops, restaurants and office space. Oliver said he's also considering a Venezuelan-based theater concept, how to make the pedestrian experience very "intimate," and how to incorporate a lot of indoor/outdoor dining.