Residential Deal of the Year: The Charles leads Atlanta in new condominium construction

The Charles Condominiums in Buckhead represent the first high-rise luxury condominium project that has gotten off to a successful start in Atlanta since the beginning of the current real estate cycle,

The Charles, developed by The Loudermilk Cos., is the Residential Deal of the Year in Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Best in Atlanta Real Estate awards.

The Charles is located at 3099 Peachtree Road at the Buckhead Triangle, where West Paces Ferry, Roswell, and Peachtree roads intersect. Adjacent to the six-block Shops Buckhead Atlanta, the property fronts Loudermilk Park.

According to the company, the tower is named “The Charles” in recognition of three generations of Loudermilk sons named Charles, including Charlie Loudermilk, founder of multi-billion-dollar rent-to-own business Aaron’s, as well as father of Robert C. “Robin” Loudermilk, president and CEO of longtime Atlanta real estate developer The Loudermilk Cos.

Designed by Lord, Aeck Sargent architects, with Brasfield & Gorrie serving as the general contractor, the $110 million, 18-story, 409,000-square-foot tower features 57 luxury condominium units; three levels of parking with a total of 231 spaces; and 26,641 square feet of retail shell space.

The Charles showcases skyline views of Buckhead, Midtown and downtown Atlanta with an elevated full-floor amenity terrace comprised of 14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. It includes a fitness and yoga center; an outdoor deck with an infinity pool, gardens, and lounge space extending from the covered club area.

The Charles is being marketed by Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty. Unit prices begin at around $1.3 million for two- and three-bedroom units, which range in size from 2,617 square feet to 3,290 square feet. Pricing for the tower’s three 4,946-square-foot penthouse units tops out at $4 million.

Those penthouse units have already sold out, according to Robin Loudermilk, who reports that 41 units total have been sold here so far, “and we plan to be close to sold out when we start moving people here in September.”

The Charles fills a hole in the Buckhead Village neighborhood’s residential array, according to Brian Lu, vice president and director of development of The Loudermilk Cos.

“Buckhead Village has been elevated over the past five years with the addition of ultra-luxury retail, restaurants and fine dining,” said Lu. “These high-end uses complement the traditional Buckhead offerings already in place, resulting in an all-encompassing neighborhood that affords access to both casual dining and shopping as well as some of the most exclusive brands in the world.”

But, he notes, “the glaringly missing element in the overall mix is luxury, full-service living for the sophisticated owner.”

The Charles site is “surrounded by the highest concentration of million-dollar homes in Atlanta, neighborhoods with median incomes of $180,000 to $250,000, and a population with a growing preference for a full-service, lock-and-leave lifestyle,” Lu noted.

Loudermilk completed land acquisition for The Charles in 2013. The biggest challenge afterwards was convincing debt and equity financing sources that Atlanta had indeed recovered from the financial meltdown of the Great Recession, and that there was local demand for new luxury condominiums.

But Loudermilk know this site was right. And, thanks to his persistence — and getting 30 percent of units at the Charles presold — Bank of the Ozarks provided the construction financing in mid-2017.

“We had been assembling that triangular site for a number of years and, to me, it just lent itself perfectly to luxury residential condos — it was not an office site, it was too expensive a site for a hotel, and condos made the most sense financially,” Loudermilk said.

The site definitely has some cachet about it, notes Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition and former Atlanta mayor.

“The Charles will be a great luxury addition to Atlanta’s residential options,” he said, “And what better address could one imagine than North Atlanta, on Peachtree, in Buckhead, and across the street from Charles Loudermilk Park, facing the Historic Buckhead Theatre?”

The Charles is Loudermilk’s second residential condominium development. In 2014 the company completed Seventh Midtown, a nine-story, 20-unit luxury project at the Peachtree and Seventh streets.

In 2017, Loudermilk sold his parking and retail property holdings in MIdtown to Coro Realty, in order to be able to devote more resources and focus to redeveloping Buckhead Village, where he has been active with a number of projects, in addition to The Charles, over the past several years.

Most recently, Loudermilk has teamed up with developer Regent Partners for a planned, approximately $80 million hotel project in the Buckhead Village. As reported by Atlanta Business Chronicle in late 2018, plans call for an approximately 200-room boutique hotel.