Developer denies Buckhead Atlanta financing issues, says initial site plans, permit in place to begin start-up

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OliverMcMillan has denied rumors shared with BuckheadView by veterans of Atlanta’s commercial broker community that problems with financing for the Buckhead Atlanta mixed-use development have been holding up construction work.

Hunter Richardson, development director for Buckhead Atlanta, shown
recently in Las Vegas with the new model for the mixed-use development.

Richardson told BuckheadView today that pre-construction activities are underway and OliverMcMillan is working “diligently to get Buckhead Atlanta back under construction.” He added that the project continues “to be on schedule for a late 2013/early 2014 opening."
BuckheadView also asked Patrick Hill, with OliverMcMillan’s local public relations firm Jackson-Spalding, why OliverMcMillan had not been back to the SPI-9 Development Review Committee (DRC) with changes requested by that committee in February. The special public interest district (SPI) includes the Buckhead Atlanta site.
Hunter Richardson, development director for Buckhead Atlanta, responded to the reports of the rumors and BuckheadView’s other questions about the status of the project:

A close-up of he Parcel A area in the new Buckhead Atlanta model, which
would be at the corner of Peachtree and Pharr roads. 

"OliverMcMillan continues to work diligently to get Buckhead Atlanta back under construction,” Richardson’s emailed statement said. “As communicated earlier, pre-construction activities are underway with the former Hi-Fi Buys building having been refurbished for its current use as Balfour Beatty's construction offices and Georgia Power in the process of under grounding the power lines on Buckhead Avenue. This effort is just weeks away from completion. Since much of this work is underground, it is not yet visible to the public. This work is part of the process of preparing to start construction.”


Richardson’s statement continued: “We continue to work with the DRC and the city of Atlanta to obtain the necessary approvals and permits to restart the development.  We already have SAP (Special Administrative Permit) and SDP (Site Development Plan) approvals for Parcels A and C and are in the process of obtaining the framing permits to commence construction. We continue to be on schedule for a late 2013/early 2014 opening."

An aerial view of an older model of the entire development. 

Richardson reported he has not been back to the DRC because, currently, he has the approvals needed to go to construction, and is focused on getting construction re-started.
In response to an inquiry from DRC member Denise Starling, after BuckheadView queried her earlier this week about the financing rumors and why OliverMcMillan had not reported back to the DRC, Richardson thanked Starling for her inquiry and emailed her this response: 
"Briefly, we had not been planning on coming back to DRC in July as the next round of reviews by DRC are not needed for our next round of permits which are the framing permits. While we continue to work on open issues with City Planning on the Parcel B SAP, we have not yet nailed down the design/budget re the streetscape/landscape items proposed for Parcels A and C. Once finalized, we plan to return to DRC.”
Richardson explained in his memo to Starling: “Parcel B won't start construction until months after we start Parcels A & C and the streetscape work is a year out before it starts.  I will keep you posted as to when we are ready for our next DRC presentation. Please note, not coming in is not a sign of a lack of progress, but rather a prioritization of efforts to get under construction."
Starling told BuckheadView earlier this week that the Development Review Committee had been expecting OliverMcMillan to come back every month since February with changes the DRC had suggested, but that OliverMcMillan has deferred doing so for months. The committee meets again next Wednesday, but from what Richardson told Starling and BuckheadView, they will not be at that meeting.

Denise Starling

Starling told BuckheadView, "We're not holding this up (meaning construction) at this time." Starling then sent an email to BuckheadView on July 4, after conferring with Richardson, that simply said, “Confirmed with Hunter there is no substance to the rumors.”
Richardson had announced in April that Balfour Beatty, the construction firm for the Buckhead Atlanta project, would be moving in smaller cranes and other equipment that month to begin work on altering some of the infrastructure work that had previously been done by Ben Carter’s group when he began the former Streets of Buckhead project on the site.
Richardson said then that the infrastructure changes were necessary prior to beginning new construction because of changes OliverMcMillan had made in the design and focus of the project from what Carter had planned and because of some concerns about placement of pillars in the underground parking deck area.
However, as of July 4, there has been no indication Balfour Beatty, or anyone else, had started any of the work changing the present infrastructure or has even brought in any new equipment to deal with those issues. The only apparent work was that done on the former Hi-Fi Buys store.
Also, in April, Richardson announced the work Georgia Power was going to do in June to move the overhead power lines on Buckhead Avenue—which will be the center road of Buckhead Atlanta—underground. Richardson said today that Georgia Power has been working on that project for weeks.

Hunter Richardson is pictured at a Neighborhood Planning
Unit-B meeting last September describing the various
development Parcels (A, B & C) for Buckhead Atlanta.

BuckheadView gets emails almost daily, as well as queries on the street and in elevators, about the status of Buckhead Atlanta and when construction will begin anew. Residents and business leaders in Buckhead wonder if the hole in the middle of Buckhead Village will ever become a thriving retail, residential and office neighborhood within their community or just continue to sit there with pilings to nowhere pointing up from the hole.
Ben Carter originally announced The Streets of Buckhead would be open for business by the end of 2009. Of course that didn’t happen. OliverMcMillan bought the project from Carter and announced it would be changed from the Rodeo Drive high-style retail environment Carter had envisioned to a somewhat more modest and affordable concept. OliverMcMillan announced that the new Buckhead Atlanta would be open for business by the end of 2013.
However, those in the commercial real estate business doubt that is likely or even possible, since phase one construction has not yet begun and they say it will take at least 18 months, with good weather, to do complete that.  It is now 18 months until the end of 2013.
However, OliverMcMillan does have a new model of the proposed Buckhead Atlanta, which it is showing around to market the project. BisNow online real estate news service got a video of the model recently in Las Vegas. To view the brief video, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNDA3QeFkiA.