Atlanta

New high-rise could change midtown skyline, tallest building to be built in 30 years

ATLANTA — The Atlanta skyline could soon be changed forever.

The tallest building built in the city in roughly 30 years could soon start going up in midtown.

The Midtown Atlanta Alliance gave Channel 2 Action News renderings of the proposed 61-story building.

The Rockefeller Group hopes to build the tower at the corner of 12th and West Peachtree streets.

It would rank as the tallest building built in Atlanta since the early 1990s, and when completed would be the fifth tallest overall.

The proposal still needs approval from the city and is currently being reviewed by the Midtown Atlanta Alliance.

“Taken as a whole this is just another added part to the continued development that we see in our district,” said Karl Smith-Davids, a senior project manager with Midtown Alliance.

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Smith-Davids told us the building would include offices, retail space and 350 apartments. It would join several other residential buildings already under construction in midtown.

Right now in midtown, the Midtown Atlanta Alliance says 4,527 residential units are under construction and 2,132 are in the planning phase, for a total of 6,659 units on their way to midtown.

While residents tell us they worry about increased traffic, Smith-Davids says midtown streets can handle it.

“We’ve got a good street grid,” said Smith-Davids. “We have ready access to the interstate. We have ready access to MARTA itself. So with that we are prepared to have density. And we welcome it.”

The proposed tower would stand at 733 feet tall, making it 10 feet taller than downtown Atlanta’s Westin hotel.

Some midtown residents we spoke with wonder if it’s all a bit too much.

“We lived in New York, we lived in Los Angeles and this just seems almost as busy,” said midtown resident Nancy Kyger. “The traffic is as bad as L.A., believe it – it’s as bad as L.A.”

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