Mixed-use Midtown Exchange would feature apartment and office towers

The Midtown Development Review Committee (DRC) got its first look Tuesday at a new mixed-use development proposed by developers Selig and RJTR.

Midtown Exchange – bounded by 12^th Street, Peachtree Walk and 13^th Street – would feature two towers organized around an internal courtyard.

Plans show a 37-story residential building with 465 units and street-level retail at the corner of 13^th Street and Peachtree Walk and a 26-story office tower located along 12^th St.

The project would be served by a shared 10-story parking deck with 1,608 spaces at the northeast corner of the site.

Midtown Exchange would also be adjacent to the Midtown Art Walk, a public promenade and shared street concept that will provide an enhanced pedestrian experience incorporating creative arts, sustainable landscaping, and unique lighting from the Fed Plaza at 10^th Street to the Woodruff Arts Center at 15^th Street.

The DRC had a long list of recommendations for the developer.

• Re-examine the location and configuration of the parking deck in relation to the adjacent residential building on the east to meet general code requirements.
  
• Recommend reducing the size of the parking deck by eliminating 24-hour designated spaces. This demand model is successful for mixed-use programs with office and residential components as proposed.
  
• Provide updated parking deck elevations facing west (toward Crescent Avenue) and east (to the internal courtyard) and show architectural detailing facing north toward 13^th Street.
  
• Reevaluate the internal focus of the courtyard and consider additional points of access from adjacent streets. This would invite pedestrians to move through the space from multiple directions, provide greater visibility for retail tenants and facilitate improved integration with the surrounding urban fabric.
  
• Move the residential building footprint east to provide a minimum 40-foot setback from the curb on Peachtree Walk. The design of the public space between the Peachtree Walk curb and the building face should be coordinated between the property owner and Midtown Alliance to ensure consistency with the Art Walk.
  
• Eliminate EIFS (exterior insulation finishing system) on the residential building due to pollution created during the installation process.
  
• Move the office building footprint north so that the columns do not encroach into the sidewalk clear zone along 12^th Street.
  
• Consolidate the width of the loading curb-cuts along 13^th Street by reducing the number of loading bays (from three to two each) while actively managing and scheduling the remaining spaces.

The committee offered to have a follow-up meeting with the development team as soon as feasible to address comments and work towards a revised set of plans that could be approved by the next DRC meeting in May.