It's a site TerwilligerPappas' Alan Dean has had his eye on for years. And now, the highest point in the Northside Parkway, Howell Mill, and West Paces Ferry roads corridor will see a new ultra-premium apartment complex rise. But will it achieve the nearly mythical $2/SF rent? ($2/SF is like Arthur's Sword in the Stone, the Gordian Knot, the 12 Labours of Hercules, and the cinnamon challenge all rolled into one.)

TerwilligerPappas has underwritten $1.85/SF rents for its Solis Downwood development, a $50M, 280-unit luxury apartment complex on Downwood Circle. And Alan says it would be reasonable to achieve $2/SF rents, given its location in the affluent neighborhood. Originally, municipality planners were hard-pressed to accept new multifamily in the area. Then the recession happened, and attitudes within the city and district shifted in multifamily's favor. (If you don't like prevailing opinions, just wait a few minutes.)

“There was always a glass ceiling in Atlanta and the Southeast when it came to $2/SF rents,” Alan says. Whereas markets like Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Nashville came out of the downturn quickly, Atlanta has just recently caught up to that kind of fundamental multifamily performance. But now there's a shift in the psychology of Americans, who are leaning toward renting and remaining flexible, he says. Most of these projects are being designed and built with the Millennials in mind.