Renderings: Buckhead condo tower to launch at site once planned for Emerson project

Views of treetops and the building’s planned $8.6 million penthouse.
Renderings courtesy of Kolter Group; designs by Rule Joy Trammel + Rubio Architecture

The veil has lifted on a rare Atlanta tower of new, for-sale condos, proposed for a Peachtree Road site where a low-rise midcentury condo building was demolished a few years ago and a highly anticipated Buckhead tower couldn’t quite get off the ground.

Real estate and investment firm Kolter Urban, based in Florida’s Palm Beach County, will be entering the Atlanta market for the first time with a project called Graydon Buckhead.

Construction is expected to begin at the 2520 Peachtree Road site early next year.

Expect 47 residences in 22 floors, with views from Buckhead to downtown. Architecture by Rule Joy Trammel + Rubio is said to be influenced by “the fine, classic homes of Buckhead, while keeping a modern aesthetic,” development reps announced today.

The project’s name, meanwhile, is an homage to prominent landowner Wesley Grey Collier, whose home was located in the area, also on the west side of Peachtree.

It represents the most sizable new for-sale condo project between Midtown and Buckhead Village’s The Charles, following the switch of another new Buckhead tower, The Sutton, from posh condos to rentals.

One of Atlanta’s most eagerly anticipated—and architecturally compelling—new tower proposals, Emerson, was cancelled a year and a half ago at the prime Peachtree Road acreage.

The lot’s former occupant, in 2015.

Bobby Julien, Kolter Group CEO, noted in a prepared statement that “we see great potential for residential growth” in Atlanta, as with other projects the company has developed in intown markets across the Southeast.

As for pricing, the smallest Graydon offerings—two-bedroom condos with two and a half bathrooms and 2,200 square feet—will start at $1.6 million.

The next step up, priced at $3.2 million, will be three-bedroom options with four and a half bathrooms and between 3,500 and 3,600 square feet.

Crowning the building will be just one penthouse on the 22nd floor—four bedrooms, five and half bathrooms, and an immense 5,850 square feet—for $8.5 million.

That’s double the price of Midtown’s most expensive condo at the moment.

The Peachtree Road development site, as seen a year ago.

Officials with JPX Works, developers of Inman Park’s Inman Quarter and Midtown’s lilli apartment tower, pulled the plug on Emerson in April last year, where prices of 44 condos had begun at more than $2 million.

The proposal was christened Emerson in homage to the author, who deeply impacted the work of noted local architect John Portman, the late father of JPX Works founder Jarel Portman.

At Graydon, building amenities will include concierge and valet, plus a large pool and spa, club rooms (both formal and informal), a green yoga lawn, a spin studio inside the gym, a dog spa and park, and something referred to as a “news room.”

The building’s planned amenities level, positioned away from Peachtree, at night.

Here’s the marketing angle, as the location is concerned:

“Just minutes from the city’s most exclusive shopping districts, these highly appointed luxury homes are situated in the heart of the best restaurants and entertainment venues, offering a convenient and pristine location.”

Atlanta-based Susan B. Bozeman Designs will be handling the building’s interiors and common spaces, while Ansley Atlanta Real Estate will open a sales gallery at swanky Buckhead coworking hub No18.

The tower is expected to deliver in mid-2022, per development officials.