COVER STORY, FEBRUARY 2007

JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Developers seek ways to incorporate a community feel.
Daniel Beaird

Hesitations about the housing market continue to drive the comeback of rental properties in the multifamily arena. Developers are reacting by working through construction costs and building new multifamily product. But, new apartment units as well as condominiums aren’t always being built as single projects. Multifamily units continue to be incorporated into mixed-use developments across the Southeast as developers and municipalities strive to create a sense of urban communities in urban, and suburban, settings. Southeast Real Estate Business examines why more multifamily developers are developing product within a mixed-use setting and the differences between a mixed-use setting and a single multifamily project.

eon at Lindbergh is part of the Lindbergh City Center in Atlanta.

As developers search for land on which to build their projects, mixed-use opportunities generally provide more land and the most flexibility. “Ultimately, it’s a better use of a developer’s time,” says Harold Dawson Jr., president and chief executive officer of The Dawson Company in Atlanta. “Mixed-use developments create communities and a sense of place, something that a single multifamily project just doesn’t do.” The Dawson Company, along with The Lane Company, is developing eon at Lindbergh within the mixed-use development Lindbergh City Center in the Buckhead submarket of Atlanta. The project, which sits near the intersection of Lindbergh and Piedmont avenues, is the result of a request for proposal via MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) for an all-encompassing development surrounding MARTA’s Lindbergh Station. It also represents part of a renaissance of sorts for the area, which is beginning to overcome its past of questionable business practices. “I’m a huge fan of the Buckhead area and the Peachtree-Piedmont-Lenox corridor needs a feel for community,” Dawson says.

To achieve that community feel, the Dawson Company is building multifamily units that stretch across a wide income range in one place with eon at Lindbergh. “By offering multifamily housing and workforce housing across a wide range of incomes, it creates an open, inclusive and diverse community,” Dawson says. “Hopefully, people that live in Lindbergh City Center will identify as residents of Lindbergh City Center and as a community. Those types of communities last for 30 to 40 years.”

Not only are eon at Lindbergh residences value driven through a workforce housing initiative, but they are also environmentally friendly. The one- and two-bedroom units are priced from the $180,000s and will be EarthCraft certified and designed to help reduce utility bills and protect the environment. EarthCraft House is the environmentally-friendly building program of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association that helps consumers lower maintenance and operational costs as well as improve air quality by reducing mildew problems.

eon at Lindbergh will feature 352 residences with 16 floor plans ranging in size from 700 to 1,100 square feet. The five-story project encompasses more than 315,000 square feet and will span more than 3 acres. Amenities will include a fountain courtyard; individual lobby and mail areas in each of eon’s two buildings; underground parking with elevators directly accessing residential floors; security with controlled building access; two pool areas; two club rooms; a fitness center; and a walking trail encircling the development. Building framing will begin in the first quarter of this year with delivery planned for mid 2008. Smith Dalia Architects is the project architect; Lane Realty Construction is serving as the general contractor; and Atlanta-based Evolv is managing the sales and marketing of the project.

The multifamily trend within a mixed-use project is also being seen in Midlothian, Virginia, in an area of high growth and affluence near Richmond, Virginia. Route 288 opened in spring 2005 and it completed the western beltway for the metro Richmond area, which is rapidly bringing thousands of new residents and new development into the area. James Doran Company of Charleston, South Carolina, is developing Midlothian Town Center, a 60-acre mixed-use concept that will include 251 multifamily units, including 122 townhouse lots, as well as a 25-acre single-family section to be known as The Village at Midlothian. The idea is to blend the mixed-use development and multifamily units into the rest of the community and surrounding neighborhoods by incorporating the single-family uses on the edges of Midlothian Town Center. The townhouse area will consist of a traditional neighborhood of cottage homes and townhouses, which creates the transition from the urban setting of Midlothian Town Center to the suburban setting of the adjacent Salisbury community. More than 26,000 people live within 3 miles of Midlothian Town Center with an average household income of $120,000 per year, one of the highest average household incomes in Chesterfield County, Virginia; and 63 percent of that population holds a college degree or higher.

“End users have embraced multifamily uses within mixed-use developments,” says John Henry, the executive vice president of development and legal affairs for James Doran Company. “Midlothian Town Center embraces that idea and hopes to create a dense urban core, while transitioning into the single-family neighborhoods that surround the project.”

Located at Winterfield Road and Midlothian Turnpike near the interchange of Route 288 in Midlothian, Midlothian Town Center combines retail, office, residential and leisure into a compact setting to create a new urban village lifestyle and destination center that tries to reflect the style of James Doran Company developments throughout the Southeast. Amenities include a 3-acre natural lake, tree-lined streets, outdoor plazas, a waterfront promenade, courtyards and a town square. The project is designed to reduce urban sprawl as condominiums will sit directly above retail space. 

“This approach is a great way to bring it all together in one place, which today’s active lifestyle demands more and more. Recreating downtown and offering an array of options for living, working and playing in one convenient and appealing spot is what this is all about,” Henry says.

Midlothian Town Center will break ground this month and will be completed in 2009. Atlanta-based Randall-Paulson Architects and The Housing Studio of Charlotte, North Carolina, are the architects of record for the project. The land planners of record are Nashville, Tennessee-based Looney, Ricks & Kiss and Charleston-based Design Works.

Formerly the site of several dilapidated buildings, Midlothian Town Center will be designed in keeping with the area’s colonial heritage including columns, chimneys, towers and cupolas, gable roofs and dormer windows. Brick, slate and stone siding materials will be used throughout the project. In addition, 8,000 square feet of 5-foot sidewalks will connect both sections, encouraging foot traffic.  

Just like eon at Lindbergh in Lindbergh City Center, the Midlothian project near Richmond aims to create a community feel. This neighborhood approach has become more attractive to developers across the region during the past few years as municipalities search for ways to attract more people to their cities and an urban setting. And even in suburbs like Midlothian, the concept of the urban setting is gaining popularity.

“Its more of a 1950s feel, the kind where you know your neighbors,” Henry says. “Building multifamily within mixed-use developments makes the developments more pedestrian friendly; and from an economic perspective, incorporating many uses protects against the project facing an economic downturn.”

“The Southeast’s population is booming,” says Eric Smithers, executive vice president of operations and marketing for James Doran Company. “And cities are more receptive to the mixed-use concept than just a single multifamily development.” Just as Dawson commented, a mixed-use development featuring multifamily uses offers a long-term future neighborhood for the city. Interconnected communities have a better chance to last over many years.

As these developments provide more activities for their residents, they also provide better access to public transportation as well as alternative transportation such as trails and walkways. With more concern on integration and accessibility to employment and commercial shopping, the neighborhoods of suburbia are either dwindling in popularity or catching on to the urban setting trend themselves.


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