A medical office building is set to join a luxury remake of a once-affordable Buckhead apartment complex.
Dubbed “2021 Peachtree Medical,” the five-story building is proposed for the parking lot in front of The Lofts at Twenty25 Apartments at 2025 Peachtree Road. A groundbreaking is expected this month, according to a spokesperson for the development team, with occupancy expected in early 2022.
The Lofts is the result of a $70 million luxury makeover of the former Darlington Apartments, a 50-year-old complex known as one the last in Buckhead with affordable rents and for its eye-catching “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign.
Sandy Springs-based Varden Capital Properties bought the Darlington in 2017 and the following year began displacing hundreds of tenants following organized protests. Buckhead Christian Ministry, a local homelessness prevention nonprofit, said it was hit with unexpected costs in aiding roughly three-dozen of the displaced tenants.
The redevelopment of the 1.6-acre parking lot into the medical building is intended to capitalize on the neighboring Piedmont Atlanta Hospital and the Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital.
The project is owned and developed by VCP and The Gipson Company, with Transwestern Real Estate Services handling the leasing.
A press release from the development team indicated the “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign will remain.
“It’s a privilege to develop a new, modern medical office building at such an iconic location,” said Jay Gipson, owner of The Gipson Company, in the release. “We look forward to adding another unique building on Peachtree adjacent to the Piedmont Hospital and Shepherd Center campuses. The landmark ‘Atlanta’s Population Now’ sign was erected the year I was born. As an Atlanta native, I’m excited to keep refreshing it for the next 55 years!”