SHR Residential Breaks Ground in Atlanta

The Howell. Image courtesy of SHR Residential

SHR Residential has begun construction on The Howell, a 210-unit, Class A multifamily community in Atlanta’s Upper West Side neighborhood that will be the firm’s first ground-up development.

The firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Songy Highroads, expects to complete the development at 1850 Howell Mill Road NW in early 2024. Songy Highroads, a commercial real estate investment and development company, and its partner Healey Weatherholtz Properties acquired the 2.7-acre site and former food truck park in the Collier Village section of Buckhead in August 2021. Located at the northwest corner of Howell Mill Road and Interstate 75, the property is near the Buckhead, Collier Hills, Springlake and Wildwood neighborhoods.

Foster Durkee, president of SHR Resi, told Multi-Housing News there is potential for future mixed-use development adjacent to The Howell but no details are available at this time. When parent company SHR acquired the site last year, executives had stated retail and hospitality uses could be added to the multifamily development.

The Howell Details

The Howell will be seven stories with five residential stories over two parking garage levels, Durkee said. The multifamily asset will have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The lobby will have about 6,000 square feet of coworking space with “lots of nooks and small-group seating,” he told MHN.

Amenities will also include a very high-end swimming pool and terrace, built-in grills, fitness center, clubroom and game room, sky lounge rooftop deck, storage lockers and a package room. The building will also have spaces for retail or food and beverage.

The Howell was designed by Cooper Carry Architects. Focus Design Interiors is handling the interior design. Reeves Young is the general contractor and Rivers Residential will serve as the project manager. Private equity firm Walton Street Capital is SHR Resi’s capital partner for the project and construction financing is being provided by Ameris Bank of Atlanta. Details on the financing were not disclosed.

SHR Resi and SHR Deals

SHR principals formed SHR Resi this year to acquire value-add multifamily properties in the metropolitan Atlanta area as well as selective ground-up development of new multifamily communities.

“We are actively pursuing additional sites for other ground-up developments in metro Atlanta in addition to our acquisition strategy,” Durkee told MHN.

SHR began expanding into multifamily investments several years ago to diversify and complement its holdings in commercial real estate and institutional-quality hotel and hospitality properties that are located across the Southeast and Washington, D.C. In February 2016, SHR made its first multifamily investment with the acquisition of Jefferson Place, a 136-unit, garden-style apartment and townhome community in Baton Rouge, La.

Prior to the formation of SHR Resi, SHR had closed on several multifamily acquisitions in the Atlanta area in the past year including the purchase of Arlowe Townhomes in The Battery/Cumberland Galleria submarket, two apartment communities at Colliers/Defoors Road in the Upper Westside neighborhood of Midtown and Biscayne Apartments, a 370-unit apartment complex in College Park near the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.