Buckhead Atlanta, a major mixed-use project in the heart of the area’s business district, has landed its first major office tenant, boosting both the multimillion dollar project and commercial development in the area.
Spanx, the Atlanta-based maker of form-fitting undergarments, is expected to announce this week that it will lease space in the 10-acre project at Peachtree and East Paces Ferry roads. Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell on Wednesday confirmed the plans to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Spanx did not immediately comment to the AJC. Buckhead Atlanta’s developer, OliverMcMillan, will have no comment before Friday, a spokeswoman said.
Real Estate Bisnow, citing sources, said Spanx will lease 100,000 square feet. The company currently takes up nearly 50,000 square feet at 3344 Peachtree Street.
The apartment, retail and office spaces that will make up Buckhead Atlanta are currently under construction. Massell said the project, when completed, will be a destination and it will help Buckhead cope with its population growth. “People are excited about it,” Massell said. “It’s a big thing for Buckhead.”
Brian Daughdrill, president of the Buckhead Business Association, said renewed work on the Buckhead Atlanta project - originally called Streets of Buckhead before being stalled by the recession - is another sign of that commercial development is on the mend and he added the is room for even more development.
“There will always be smaller buildings torn down and larger buildings replacing them, and more intense development,” Daughdrill said. “I don’t see Buckhead being tapped out at what it can do either vertically or density wise,”
Womens Wear Daily recently quoted OliverMcMillan Chief Executive Officer Morgan Dene Oliver as saying Buckhead Atlanta has already leased more than 60 percent of its retail space to high-end stores. It has only publicly named Hermès.
Hunter Richardson, director of development for OliverMcMillan and project manager for Buckhead Atlanta, told BuckheadView the first retail stores will open in the late spring of 2014 and the main part of the project by late 2014. He said outparcels will follow in 2015.
Earlier this year Richardson said the project will include $330 million in new investment on top of $360 million already spent.
Ben Carter, the original developer, had conceived of an ultra-luxury retail, residential, hotel and office project. California-based OliverMcMillan took over the project in 2011.
