Streets of Buckhead ‘restart' delayed to next year

Some delays stem from the process of combining OliverMcMillan's ideas with those of the original developer, Ben Carter, who had conceived of an ultra-luxury retail, residential, hotel and office project.

Paul Buss, president of OliverMcMillan, said luxury aspirations of the project have been scaled down, though not abandoned. New plans call for retailers and restaurants that would cater to a broader range of incomes.

Buss and Hunter Richardson, development director for the Atlanta project, had few details about which retailers and other tenants would fill the retail development, now set to open in the fall of 2013.

One tenant that has remained committed to the development is luxury chain Hermes, one of the anchors Carter had secured when he ran the project.

OliverMcMillan showed new renderings and laid out details of its landscape design, which is being prepared by the Chicago's Hoerr Schaudt, the firm that helped revitalize the streetscapes along that city’s Magnificent Mile.

Doug Hoerr said he wants landscaping to calm traffic and invite people to linger in the project. Creating summer shade also is key, he said, which is why he plans to plant mature trees. Other elements include a variety of benches, pavers, planters and plants to coordinate with retailers, but that aren’t uniform throughout. He said he doesn't want it to feel “preplanned or plastic.”

OliverMcMillan has said it will invest $300 million to complete the project that Carter and other partners had fueled with $400 million for land acquisition and construction.

"It needed a restructuring of debt and equity,” Buss said. OliverMcMillan will develop the three components of the site: 370 apartments, 300,000 square feet of retail space and 90,000 square feet of “boutique” office space.