ATLANTA — Orinda Corp. is planning a $35 million upgrade at 222 Mitchell St. in Atlanta, transforming the former Nations Bank/Bank of America Operations Center into a mixed-use space.
Atlanta-based Orinda and Charlottesville, Va.-based Octagon Capital Partners purchased the 350,000-square-foot property from Bank of North Georgia for an undisclosed amount. The firms are already moving ahead with a new look for the office building, outlining a project consisting of 205 lofts and more than 70,000 square feet of commercial space. Orinda has had previous success mixing residences with commercial condominium space at the Studioplex development in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.
“We think there’s an underserved small loft office need downtown,” says Dillon Baynes, president of Orinda, adding that 222 Mitchell St. is “the right project for the times.” In addition to downtown workers, the firms are expecting interest from area students. Georgia State University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia Tech are all located near the property. Baynes says Georgia State will increase its enrollment by 4,000 students during the next 4 years.
Completion of the retooled tower is expected in January 2011. The first major task is finding construction financing for the project. Baynes says he’s aiming to have the necessary loans secured by the end of this year or in early 2010. “It’s always a struggle in the current market to close construction financing,” he says.
Though obtaining financing my be difficult, Baynes has every confidence that adding more loft units downtown is the right thing to do. “[In 2 years] gas won’t be $2.20 a gallon,” he says, “so the pressure for people to live in town will be greater.”
— Jon Ross