Crow's $3M Land Buy To Spur Condo Development

ATLANTA-Trammell Crow Co. is asking the city to rezone a 7.4-acre former railroad tract it plans to buy from local developer-investor Wayne Mason, managing owner, NorthEast Atlanta Beltline Group LLC. Crow plans to develop a 38-story and a 39-story condominium tower in the Northeast Atlanta Beltline submarket, the city’s newest redevelopment corridor that loops 22 miles around Downtown.

Mason’s group is also asking the city to rezone its 73-acre tract that covers five miles or about 22% of the planned $600-million Beltline. Mason bought the land in December 2004 from Norfolk Southern Corp. for an estimated $25 million or about $342,466 per acre ($7.86 per sf), as GlobeSt.com previously reported. Persons in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com Crow will be paying an estimated $405,405 per acre or about $9.30 per sf in an estimated $3-million deal for its 7.4 acres.

Mason couldn’t be reached by GlobeSt.com’s publication deadline to learn additional details on his planned mixed-use development. City staffers tell GlobeSt.com the developer hasn’t yet submitted conceptual plans for the project. However, on his website, Mason says the project “will serve as a catalyst for substantial infrastructure improvements, institutional and private investments, reinvigoration of existing centers and establishment of new clusters of housing choices and jobs.”

Area brokers and consultants following the project tell GlobeSt.com Mason and other developers should have no problems getting their land rezoned quickly by city officials because they have tried since 1993 to interest private investors in redeveloping the Beltline corridor.

The NorthEast Atlanta Beltline Group LLC is the holding company for a group of ownership companies that Mason manages. His group is master planning the entire 73-acre tract.