ATLANTA – Houston-based Lionstone Investments and North American Properties have purchased the 1960s-vintage Colony Square mixed-used project in Midtown Atlanta on Peachtree Street for a major redevelopment.
The developers paid $164.5 million to buy the project from Tishman Speyer Properties. It includes two office towers and an enclosed retail mall, which will be redeveloped.
The retail portion will be transformed into an open-air center that is inviting to pedestrians, says Mark Toro, managing partner of Cincinnati-based North American Properties. Toro previously redeveloped Atlanta’s Atlantic Station mixed-use project, which was acquired by Hines in October.
“Over the decades, the Midtown neighborhood around Colony Square flourished while the iconic building became sleepy and tired,” said Toro. “On July 4, 2018, the 50th anniversary of Colony Square’s groundbreaking, we will celebrate the grand opening of the reimagined Colony Square. We will engage with the city, with the street and with pedestrians, and it will fundamentally change the experience of living and working in Midtown Atlanta.”
Constructed in the late 1960s as the Southeast’s first mixed-use development, Colony Square comprises two office towers totaling 719,402 square feet, 162,953 square feet of retail space, as well as residential condos and a 467-room hotel. NAP and Lionstone acquired the office towers and retail space that connects them.
Colony Square is situated at Peachtree & 14th streets in Midtown Atlanta, the highest density intersection in the Southeast, often referred to as “Main and Main, Atlanta, Georgia,” NAP said. As part of the new vision, the team will introduce restaurants and shops that are relevant and exciting to the Midtown consumer.
Before any concrete plans are put in place, the team is seeking feedback both from the community and from experts in urban planning such as Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, and Fred Kent, founder and president of Project for Public Spaces.
The project also aligns with Lionstone’s philosophy of researching and targeting the most productive areas of the U.S. and delivering the essential product and amenities those tenants and industries desire.
“We are extremely pleased to have Colony Square as the second investment in our new value add fund,” said Tom Paterson, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Lionstone Investments. “We look forward to working with NAP to re-engage the project to the street level and provide a truly differentiated use environment in Midtown. Our goal is to create something that is truly irreplaceable at the corner of 14th and Peachtree.”