Underground Atlanta's leadership has spent years arguing that housing, not attractions, is the only real path to a downtown resurgence. This week that argument turned into paperwork.
The development team behind 1 Peachtree filed for a Special Administrative Permit with Atlanta's Department of City Planning to begin construction on a 65-unit senior housing building at the corner of Peachtree and Wall streets, immediately north of Underground Atlanta.
The building
Renderings show a slim structure rising between an existing parking garage, which would mask one facade from public view, and Peachtree Street. Filings describe a mix of one-bedroom and studio apartments.
Rick White, senior vice president at The Integral Group, said the units are intended for residents age 62 and older earning at most 80 percent of the Area Median Income, calling it a vital housing option in a part of downtown that has almost none. A groundbreaking timeline is expected to be announced later in the year.
Who is behind it
The project is being advanced by Two Peachtree Partners LLC, a partnership of Underground Atlanta owner Lalani Ventures, The Integral Group, The Atlantic Companies, and office leasing firm T. Dallas Smith and Company. Development officials described the effort as transformative and essential.
Notably, 1 Peachtree is being framed as a potential first phase of a multi-building effort across surrounding blocks rather than a one-off. That would make the plaza at Peachtree and Wall the starting point for a cluster of infill rather than its whole extent.
Two proposals in one week
The filing landed days after a much larger downtown housing proposal cleared its own hurdle, when the Georgia-Pacific Center's conversion to more than 400 apartments won approval from the Office of Zoning and Development.
Taken together, the two moves put well over 450 potential new downtown homes into the permitting pipeline inside a single week, in a district where residential supply has been the constraint on everything else. The location helps the case: 1 Peachtree sits on top of transit, with walkable commercial options in every direction and the Five Points station a short walk away.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published February 2025.
