Varden Capital JV to Break Ground on Atlanta MOB

2021 Peachtree Medical. Image courtesy of Transwestern

The Gipson Co., in partnership with Varden Capital Properties, will break ground this month on 2021 Peachtree Medical, a 75,000-square-foot medical office project in Atlanta’s Buckhead. The development team also includes Robertson Loia Roof as architect and Bailey Construction as general contractor.

Project financing includes a construction loan from Ameris Bank. According to CommercialEdge, the owner also took out a $68.5 million construction loan from Berkshire Group in 2020. The note would also finance the redevelopment of the Darlington Apartments, a nearby VCP building adjacent to the new project’s site, currently revamped.

The medical office building will come online at 2021 Peachtree Road within Buckhead’s healthcare corridor, across from Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Marcus Tower and The Shepherd Center. According to Atlanta Business Chronicle, site work already begun on the 1.6-acre former parking lot in front of the Darlington Apartments, next to the “Atlanta’s Population Now” sign.

Upon completion, the five-story building will feature 15,000-square-foot floorplates, covered drop-off and parking, as well as building signage for an anchor tenant. The facility will be suited for various health-care specialties such as cardiology, orthopedics, plastic surgery and primary care, complementing the services offered at the nearby medical facilities.

The Gipson Co. is the developer behind Brookhaven Medical Center I and II, two medical office buildings also located on Peachtree Road. Caddis Healthcare purchased the first facility for $27.6 million in 2018, while Anchor Health Properties acquired Medical Center II in 2020 for $29.8 million.

A two-year wait for the groundbreaking

CommercialEdge data shows there are five other medical office buildings located less than 1 mile of Piedmont Hospital, all of them completed between 1963 and 2013. Once completed, 2021 Peachtree will be the first new facility developed in the area in the last eight years.

The project encountered, however, some hurdles along the way. Initially dubbed Darlington Medical Center, the medical office building was announced as early as 2019, but the groundbreaking didn’t take place. The owner resumed development plans in 2020, renaming the project to Peachtree Medical Center and appointing Transwestern as exclusive leasing agent.

Transwestern’s contribution

Senior Managing Director Steve Hall, Managing Director John Lopez and Senior Associate Bo Stuart are the property’s leasing agents. The brokerage trio is also in charge of leasing space at Doctors Center I, II and III, a three-building medical office portfolio totaling 370,000 square feet within the Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital campus.

Transwestern was also instrumental in the prelease and sale of Brookhaven Medical Center II, bringing it to full occupancy before its completion.