Atlanta-based Perennial Properties is taking another step forward toward a mixed-use project along Peachtree Road in Lower Buckhead.

The firm filed land disturbance permits with the City of Atlanta for 1781 Peachtree Road, a 244K SF mixed-use apartment building that could rise near the border of Buckhead and Midtown.

The site is part of an assemblage of properties that Perennial acquired in 2015, and where the firm has long had plans to redevelop into a mixed-use project. Until recently, Hanger Orthopedics was in a single-story office at the site.

The medical firm moved from the South Buckhead location to 81 Peachtree Park, a 12K SF boutique office building developed by Parkside Partners in West Atlanta, next to the Atlanta BeltLine multiuse trail, a deal that opened the door for Perennial to move forward on its project.

The time for that project to break ground may finally be coming.

“We're trying to break ground on it sometime this year,” Perennial Properties Acquisitions and Development Manager Whit Johnson said.

Perennial's plans now call for a 265-unit apartment complex with 10K SF of office and 6,500 SF of retail. But the trick is less about Perennial obtaining construction debt and more about the uncertainty of construction costs, Johnson said, because construction costs spill over into what rents Perennial will need for a new development.

Right now, Perennial is shooting for asking rents at around $2.40/SF, Johnson said. As of the third quarter, average apartment rents in Buckhead and along the Peachtree Road spine to Midtown range from more than $1.70/SF to $1.90/SF, according to Haddow & Co. But new apartment construction can exceed $2.30/SF.

"We were able to acquire the land below market value which helps greatly, and our building is designed with a light-weight steel structural system, which is less costly than the concrete high rises going up elsewhere," Johnson said.