A developer’s plans to remake a vacant Buckhead corner are veering toward full-blown saga status.
Buckhead’s SPI-9 Development Review Committee is urging city officials to slam the brakes on a mixed-use proposal called The Buckhead Collection because it skipped a crucial step toward gaining permits to move forward.
The Buckhead Collection concept first appeared on the DRC’s radar in late 2022—and it was significantly revised last year in light of design concerns.
The property in question includes two ailing buildings along a popular Buckhead restaurant strip—one a former restaurant/residential structure, the other long-empty, low-rise offices—in the 3100 block of Piedmont Road, roughly a block south of Peachtree Road in central Buckhead.
Renovation and expansion plans call for a trendy hub of retail, restaurant, and offices melding several architectural styles. Neighbors generally loathe it.
According to the DRC, Buckhead leadership learned in February the city’s Office of Planning and Zoning had approved a Special Administrative Permit that would allow the redevelopment process to proceed. That came without required official commentary from the DRC and violated the process for new proposals—and one, in this case, that’s faced significant pushback from the surrounding community, per the DRC.
DRC officials asked the planning and zoning office last month to rescind the approval, bring the project back to DRC, and follow “appropriate procedures,” per February meeting minutes. At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the DRC again requested that The Buckhead Collection be officially paused.
A planning and zoning department staff member, Thomas Otoo, informed the board Wednesday the Piedmont Road project will be placed on hold, and that the applicant—architect Robb McKerrow of the r*development firm and his cohorts—will be notified, per a meeting recap. DRC staff asked to be copied on that notification.
Revised…
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