London architect to design Wieland condo tower - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The 23-story, $325 million luxury condominium towefr will be a modernist design by London architectDavid Chipperfield. The condo tower, at 1301 Peachtree St., acrosss from the High Museum of Art, will have 96 units that begibnat $2 million, said Wieland, CEO of , Atlanta'sx seventh-largest home builder. Construction is scheduled to begin 5 and the project is expected to be completes infall 2009. "Our main thought is that this is goinf to be the signature residencerfor Atlanta," Wieland "There are a lot of high-end condominiums, but nobod y has employed a world-class architect. Most of the towers are just Chipperfield says this is hisfirst U.S.
condominium project, althougjh he has done similar high-rise residential projects in Berlijnand London, he said. Chipperfield has also done desigh workfor museums, including Figge Art Museumk in Davenport, Iowa, and Saint Louis Art Museun in St. Louis. For Chipperfield, One Museumk Place is special. "It's the proximity to the High Museun campus," he said from his Londoj office. "It's the fourt h side of the HighMuseun piazza. It has to be considereds in that context.
" Wieland believes his first condoproject "hasa a lot of architectural links to the past throughb the grid system and formality of the A modernist building in Midtow "is a big deal because the Atlanta housing market has been pretty said Terry Herr, principal of But being near the High itself with modern architecture, woulfd not seem out of place. "Atlantq has been changing since the 1996 Olympic with morediverse populations," Herr said. "When demographicws change, modern architecture can be embraced by metropolitan Atlanta." One Museum Place will distinguish itself not just in architecture, but as a pure luxur condo, Wieland said.
The building does not containma hotel. "Unlike the St. The Mansion, the [proposed] Mandarin Oriental or The Four you don't have to duke it out with the hotekl guests [for amenities]," he said. "When you go down to the lounges fora drink, it will just be the not the guy who checkefd in four hours ago." The project may face the challenge of competingy in an Atlanta housing market that has taken a tumble alonyg with the nation's housing market. In the second quarter, 18,133 housezs were sold, compared with 24,386 during the same quartet of 2006, a 25.6 percent according to research fromthe , which trackss predominantly existing home sales.
Condo and townhousee sales were also off in Fulton oneof Atlanta's hotter condo markets. In the seconcd quarter, the listing service reported 816 condo ortownhouses sold, compared with 1,074 duringy the same time last year, a 24 percent With the Atlanta housing market taking a dip, "as looming question is how many buyers are therd in the price point," said David Tufts, president of The "There'zs no answer because there has been no real high-end condo markert in Atlanta." Baby boomers are a growing demographidc and "there are so many stories of wealth accumulatioh in Atlanta," he said.
"Thayt could all bode well for that Other high-profile Midtown condo projects are about to get undere way or are under construction. Trump Towers Atlanta is expectec to begin construction in the next30 days. A joint venture project by Atlanta-based and Ala.-based , 1010 Midtown, is undef way at 1010 Peachtree St.