Monday, July 13, 2015

The Drought Is Over! More New Apartments Coming to Buckhead!

Berkshire at left, Pollack Shores project center, Post Collier Hills at right 
300+ more units destined for suddenly crowded westside street.

Atlanta-based Pollack Shores Real Estate Group plans to replace a south Buckhead office building with a 345-unit apartment community.  The company recently demolished the mid-rise office building just off Collier Road, within view of I-75 Northbound. 

Located at 1888 Emery Street, the new project is located behind the recently completed 256-unit Berkshire Howell Mill (fka Crescent Howell Mill) near Howell Mill and Collier Roads.  The new development was originally going to be called The Flats at Howell Mill, but is now called "Millworks," and will have one, two, and three-bedroom apartments.

Additionally, Millworks will reportedly offer a “resort-style pool,” outdoor kitchen and bar with cabanas, a dog park and spa, bocce ball courts, a game room, and a multi-purpose art and events studio." Millworks is scheduled to have its first units available in late 2016. Matrix Residential, the multi-family residential management division of Pollack Shores, will manage the property. 

Emery Street is just a short, narrow street, and I worry that this added traffic will make what is already a congested area, worse.  Adjacent to Millworks is a rear access to Post Collier Hills where I witnessed a steady stream of vehicular traffic. Ask anyone who works or lives in the area and you will hear how dreadful traffic in and around the Collier / Howell Mill intersection is now,  and this development would seem to make that situation even worse.  

As I mentioned earlier this year, there are also an alarming number of new rentals planned or under construction in central Buckhead. On Maple Drive specifically, I worry that such a dramatic increase in residential units will have an adverse effect not only on traffic, but on the quality of life for those living or working in the area already.  

Millworks is only one of many projects Pollack Shores has either built, proposed, or is presently building in metro Atlanta.  

Pollack Shores’ current Georgia projects include "Steelworks" on Mecaslin Street between 16th and 17th Streets near Atlantic Station, and "Citizen Perimeter" in Sandy Springs, on Hammond Drive at Peachtree Dunwoody Road. 

Additionally, Pollack Shores has redeveloped a large portion of the Colonial Homes development with another portion under construction.  The Jane, a 280-unit community, is complete. The Monroe, an upcoming 217-unit community, is currently under construction. Colonial Homes dates back to the 1940s and is adjacent to Bobby Jones Golf Course and the Beltline making it an especially desirable location.  A portion of the original Colonial Homes project has been saved, renovated and renamed "CoHo," and is operated by Atlanta-based Tribridge Residential, according to its website.  

Pollack Shores is also said to be in talks for additional developments in midtown and Sandy Springs, among others. 

Do you live on the Westside or near the new project?  What are your thoughts on all the recent development?  Did you ever live in Colonial Homes?  

Please share your thoughts below.  

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

The volume of traffic on Peachtree as the main artery from all these massive developments has reached more than it's peak. In no way what so ever is this smart or even workable. A light rail system should've been built years ago from Arts Center, Brookwood, Collier Hills, Peachtree Battle, Pharr, and then connecting to Buckhead Station. There should never be this much development allowed within one major artery. Howell Mill Rd and Northside Dr are not alternates as they are Gridlocked and have no capacity for anymore vehicular traffic. City Hall is dumb and Mayor Reed is a self righteous high and mighty money printing machine.

Anonymous said...

Saying traffic in this area has reached its peak is not actually correct.

Volumes are actually down from a 11-year high by approximately 10,000 vehicles per day.

In 2003, according to GDOT, 50,610 vehicles crossed a point per day at Peachtree and Collier Rd.

Traffic counts have dropped and stabalized near 40,000 vehicles per day in the years past -- nearer to 36,000 vehicles per day in Buckhead.

Data:
Peachtree & Collier Rd--http://trafficserver.transmetric.com/gdot-prod/tcdb.jsp?siteid=121-5108

Peachtree & Lakeview (near the churches)--http://trafficserver.transmetric.com/gdot-prod/tcdb.jsp?siteid=121-5110

KMS said...

I live off Howell Mill north of Collier and I've started taking Howell Mill to Moore's Mill to access the highway, as it is basically impossible to get through the Howell Mill corridor south of Collier. The street condition on that stretch of road is also comically bad, as it receives heavy traffic, including construction vehicles. It's a pothole minefield.

Anonymous said...

In looking at the traffic counts, that one year of 50,000+ was an outlier. As a whole, traffic has been building consistently through time. I wonder if that one really high year was due to road construction elsewhere diverting traffic.

Anonymous said...

The same crap is going on at Lindbergh and Piedmont and Sidney Marcus and Garson and Cheshire Bridge. Cramming in luxury high priced apartments in areas that can't handle any more traffic, driving up rents in the area, increasing congestion and degrading the quality of life. Absolutely disgusting. Seems like Kasim Reed and the city have just handed the key to the city over to greedy developers to create their monstrosities for the 1%.

Anonymous said...

The 2nd Anonymous poster is incorrect about traffic being down. I clicked the link provided to the data. The 2014 figures are the highest in 10 years after an outlier in 2003. And this Poster must not live on HM-Collier because anyone who does would tell you the traffic is horrible and, to borrow another Poster's comment, a pothole minefield.

That little stretch of Beck and Emery streets is a cut-through to avoid the stupid HM-Collier intersection that has no right-turn lane to head West on HM. I can't imagine 345 more cars...or, for argument's sake just 100 cars, spilling out onto that tiny road during morning rush.

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous July 13, 2015 at 8:05 AM

Traffiic counts can be used to fit an agenda by developers. Prime example, a traffic counter was just placed on Webb Gin House Road in the heart the Brookwood school cluster in Gwinnett County. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize school is OUT of session and this traffic counter will be off the road when school starts in another month. Developers are attempting to build residential on every spare acre in our attendance done. While Buckhead is vastly different from our neck of the woods, it is clear that the last thing that area needs is high density residential (apartments)!

Anonymous said...

I live in those Post Apartments, and if I take the back exit on a Saturday, it has taken me as much as 20 minutes to turn onto Howell Mill Rd. and get to the interstate. I've been there 4 years, and it has gotten continually worse. That area is overly congested, and I plan on moving out once my lease is up simply due to travel times in that area. Unless they plan on widening Howell Mill Rd. and the back streets, I don't see how this area is going to handle the traffic.

Anonymous said...

I have SUCH mixed feelings on this. To me, this is a chicken/egg situation. I want the areas of our city that can feasibly be linked with non-auto transit (of which this is definitely one) to be developed/re-developed with density because it gives us the best compelling "business" case to find funding for walkability and non-auto transit in the (hopefully near) future. With that being said, not much in our post modern history gives us hope that the vision and funding of smarter transit infrastructure will happen anytime soon. And in that time, we're stuck with the ever-frustrating strain of choked and deteriorating roadways and intersections. I lean more toward support of these projects because they improve the vibrancy of the area around them more than a vacant or underutilized lot. However, I definitely see the validity of the concerns articulated above and that you mentioned as well, Eli.

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