SkyHouse Midtown, a planned 23-story high-rise apartment tower, is set to break ground, developers announced Wednesday.

Financing is in place for the $60 million tower at 12th and West Peachtree streets, and construction will begin immediately, Atlanta-based development partners Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Co. said in a news release.

The new tower is one of two proposed at 12th Street in Midtown and the first to get financing in place. Daniel Corp./Selig Enterprises are teaming on the second, a proposed 22-story apartment tower.

Apartments are one areas of home building that is growing. Apartment occupancy rates and rental rates are up as people give up or put off home ownership.

David Stockert, chief executive of Atlanta-based apartment titan Post Properties, estimated earlier this year the home ownership slump and foreclosure crisis has produced about 150,000 new renters in the metro area and 3 million nationally.

New multi-family housing permits -- necessary to break ground on a new apartment -- were up dramatically in November, which helped push the national rate of housing starts up 9.3 percentto 685,000 units nationally. Though multi-family starts are notoriously volatile, the growth blew away market watchers with a rate of 145.4 percent higher than a year ago.

Novare President Jim Borders said, “We are very pleased to have a shovel back in the ground."

Financing for the project is provided by an investor account under advisement of UBS Global Asset Management’s U.S. real estate division. Novare and Batson-Cook Development are providing equity.

Batson-Cook Construction will build the tower, while Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart is the architect.

The project will have 320 rental units and it is expected to open in December 2012.

The developers said the apartments should appeal to young professionals who want “luxury in-town” living in a location close to entertainment, restaurants and their workplaces.