Larry Gellerstedt

The Story
September 16, 2004

Gellerstedt Plans New Condo Project For Midtown
By: John Schaffner

The Gellerstedt Group has announced plans to build a $30 million, eight-story condominium project with ground-level retail at the southeast corner of Juniper and 8th Street in Midtown, according to Larry Gellerstedt III, chairman and CEO of the company. The development, to be named 905 Juniper, is in the block between the Dakota and Tuscany condominiums.

The project, which will replace existing two-story apartment buildings on the site, will have a total of 117 units, with 75 studio and one-bedroom units and 35 two-bedroom units. Four of the units will be two-story live/work units facing Juniper and three will be walk-up townhouse units. There also will be 2,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor.

Gellerstedt, who announced the project at Wednesday morning's breakfast meeting of the Midtown Alliance, said the units will be priced from $175,000 for studio and one-bedroom units to $280,000-$290,000 for two-bedroom units. He said the architecture provides the condo units with large amounts of glass for views of the surrounding area and the units have large balconies.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday that the Gellerstedt Group is partnering on the 905 Juniper project with Cousins Properties, but Gellerstedt told The Story he agreed not to discuss any partnership arrangement until all the financing has been arranged and all the permits secured. He said he continues to honor that agreement. He said the project is being developed in a way that allows a purchaser to add a studio or one-bedroom unit to a two-bedroom unit to gain additional living space. He said the average unit space for the whole project would be 1,000 square feet.

The 125,000 square foot residential/retail building will wrap around a parking deck for 178 cars, which will not be visible from the street. The top of the parking deck will be an amenity terrace, which will include a swimming pool and other resident amenities.

Gellerstedt told The Story that demolition of the existing buildings on the site would begin in November, with construction on the new project to begin in January. He said it would take about 14 months to complete the project.

Earlier this year, Ponce Springs Development, a joint venture of the Gellerstedt Group and Miller-Gallman Developers, broke ground on a $17 million, 112-unit condominium/retail project across Glen Iris Drive from City Hall East named Ponce Springs Lofts at Glen Iris.

That condominium community was the final building on the Glen Iris block, which also includes the Troy Peerless Lofts and Glen Iris Lofts Phases I and II. Ponce Springs also offers a mix of one- and two-bedroom units as well as 12 "live/work" units that allow residents to live above their workspace in a two-story unit.

Gellerstedt Development is an arm of The Gellerstedt Group, which was founded in 2003 by Gellerstedt, former chief executive officer of Beers Construction and a long-time Atlanta business and civic leader.

Gellerstedt is blending his commercial and residential real estate career within his new company, offering consulting support to other developers as well as developing projects. In addition to Beers Construction, Gellerstedt was CEO of American Business Products and was with the Integral Group, where he helped develop, build and manage apartments, a hotel, a retail center and a parking garage.

He said he has always lived in the city and his interest is in intown mixed-use projects. The company also may develop a mixed-use retail/condo project across from Centennial Olympic Park, possibly beginning in 2005. His company has owned a block on Centennial Park between Museum Tower and Centennial House for a year and a half.