Downtown Atlanta’s Georgia-Pacific Tower is on track for a serious identity shift, trading its reputation as a corporate fortress for a mixed-use life that includes hundreds of new apartments and a sizeable chunk of below-market housing. The plan would convert much of the company’s 51-story pink-granite headquarters into residential, retail and public plaza space while keeping a large portion as offices. City and company officials rolled out the affordability component this week.
Speaking at a "Future of Downtown" panel, Georgia-Pacific project lead Suzanne Maynard said about 30% of the planned roughly 400 residential units, more than 130 apartments, will be reserved at rents pegged between 50% and 80% of the area median income. Those specifics were shared Thursday evening, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Project Scope And Partners
Georgia-Pacific first unveiled the redevelopment concept in September 2024. In that initial rollout, the company described a plan to turn the tower’s upper floors into more than 400 apartments, add roughly 125,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, and preserve about 600,000 square feet of Class A office space anchored by Georgia-Pacific and Koch Inc., according to a release distributed via PR Newswire. The proposal also calls for a 35,000-square-foot central plaza with MARTA access and more than 2,100 parking spaces.
The tower itself is listed as a 51-story, 697-foot building at 133 Peachtree Street NE in the profile maintained by the CTBUH Skyscraper Center, underscoring just how prominent a presence this conversion would bring to the heart of downtown.
Timeline And Approvals
Atlanta’s Office of Zoning and Development has already signed off on a Special Administrative Permit, a key zoning step for the adaptive reuse of the tower, although no visible construction has started yet. Urbanize Atlanta reported on the permit approval.
Project leaders told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they plan to start courting debt and equity partners this summer, with a tentative groundbreaking targeted for late 2026.
Downtown Impact And Next Steps
City officials and downtown advocates say bringing hundreds of residents into the building could help jump-start ground-floor retail and nightlife on a stretch of Peachtree Street that has long been dominated by office workers who clear out after business hours. In Georgia-Pacific’s release, Mayor Andre Dickens said the project lines up with his "Moving Atlanta Forward" initiatives and could support the city’s strategy to add more housing downtown. Company leaders have also said they will explore public incentives as part of the overall financing mix, according to PR Newswire.
What Remains Unclear
For now, a lot of the fine print is still missing. Developers have not released unit plans, bedroom counts or a final leasing schedule, and officials say specific rent levels and qualifying rules for the below-market units will be worked out during the financing phase.
Earlier coverage has noted that Georgia-Pacific is still vetting potential investors and that some pieces of the deal remain under study. Bisnow reported that the company is evaluating investors and incentives, while Urbanize Atlanta observed there is currently no visible construction as design work and approvals continue.
