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Home Equity : Southern Comforts The South rises again in Atlanta’s exclusive Buckhead section, in the form of a spate of luxury properties By: Lisa Selin DavisMarch/April 2007 , Page 128
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When it comes to buyouts, ratios matter. Whether P/E ratios, leverage ratios or the ratio of young guns to deadwood at the company you’re acquiring, there is much to learn from pitting two figures against each other. Such is the case with the city of Atlanta and its most telling ratio: 10-to-1. The ratio of the population of the city’s statistical metropolitan area (4.9 million) to that of Atlanta proper (471,000), it’s a figure that tells the tale of suburban sprawl gone wild. During the past half-century, Atlanta, with no prohibitive water or mountains to contain it, crept its way across Georgia like (continued on page 130) (continued from page 128) an unruly patch of kudzu, creating a glut of traffic — with average car commutes of 31.2 minutes, among the country’s highest — that has finally spurred the city to look within. Inward, that is, to the city’s center, home to a recent wave of high-end residential development. And perhaps no section of metro Atlanta has benefited more from this trend than the area known as Buckhead. A swanky community once made up primarily of single-family homes, Buckhead is now booming with the type of luxury properties well-suited to someone looking to relocate his financial capital to the South’s financial capital. Better still, the law of supply and demand suggests that said investment will be a safe one: By 2030, the region’s population is projected to increase by 46 percent, or some 1.8 million people — which should make for more than a few buyers. As Paul Freeman, a developer of the St. Regis Atlanta Residences, says, “The majority of people in Atlanta aren’t buying for investments. They’re looking for a place to settle down.” And we figure you could do a lot worse than settling down in one of these. The Mansion on Peachtree — a delicate, eight-sided neo-Classical tower — bills itself as residing on a “Southern version of Park Avenue.” But we’ve been to Park Avenue; it’s not all that. And, truth be told, most Park Avenue residents would push their butler under the 6 train in a heartbeat to score a residence as swanky as the Mansion on Peachtree promises to be. Residing atop an eponymous 127-room hotel (sister hotel to the Carlyle in Manhattan and the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas), these spectacular digs will boast 12-foot ceilings, garden parterres and living quarters of up to 10,500 square feet. Residents will have access to a 15,000-square-foot spa and 4,500-square-foot fitness facility, along with auto care, chauffeurs and such absentee-homeowners’ services as fridge-stocking. “You hear the term luxury used too loosely now,” says developer Clark Butler. “But we sell an exclusive lifestyle at the Mansion.” (Read: Our luxury is more luxurious than their luxury.) Though Butler says they’ve aimed the development at “CEOs and such, who have multiple homes” (and we presume they wouldn’t spit at a deal pro or two), he says many of their buyers work in real estate. Which might make for some mighty tiresome elevator banter, but augurs well for your investment. The File The Mansion On Peachtree Opening: 2008 Units: 42 tower condominiums, three garden villas Prices: $3 million–$12 million Architect: Robert A.M. Stern Contact Info: 404-816-4800; [MansionOnPeachtree.com]
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