The developer of the Star Metals District project is planning a new upscale apartment complex just two blocks from the new Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospital campus.

The Allen Morris Co. plans to break ground later this year on a $100M, 337-unit apartment project with ground-floor retail along North Druid Hills Road. The project will be aimed and marketed toward the medical community working at both Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Emory Healthcare medical campus nearby, CEO W. Allen Morris said.

“You got so much growth in the medical community there, and we want to provide a high-quality product for the doctors, nurses, interns,” Morris said.

Morris is developing Star Metals District in West Midtown off Howell Mill Road, which includes the 267K SF Star Metals office building and a 409-unit Star Metals Residences apartments, with future plans for a hotel.

Morris said the firm found success in developing apartments near a medical facility before with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is near Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. Morris said the firm found that many of the renters were physicians and medical personnel; the Hermitage filled a housing need for them, given many medical interns are likely working at the facility on a shorter-term basis. He said he believes there is a similar need near CHOA and Emory Healthcare.

“They may not be in town for more than a year or two years or three years," Morris said. "They may not want to buy a home, but they want a nice home for them while they're in Atlanta."

The company is targeting to break ground on the project in the fall, with delivery by the spring of 2023. Morris has yet to obtain construction financing for the project.

“We're in the process of doing that right now,” he said. "But we're not worried about that at all."