The Whistler Off-Campus Housing That Feels More Like Multifamily
Whistler offers students a community that prioritizes inclusivity and homeyness.
The Whistler student housing development is located minutes from the Georgia Tech University campus in Atlanta. It’s also steps from downtown Atlanta, offering students the opportunity to feel more like multifamily residents.
The 565-bed property at 859 Spring St. in midtown Atlanta provides students with easy access to campus, public transit and downtown entertainment. It also offers them a unique opportunity to become part of the larger community. Before the 2025-2026 school year, the development was 95 percent preleased across its 168 units.
“One of the standouts for Whistler is its location,” said Chelsea Kloss, executive vice president of design and curation at LV Collective, which developed the property and designed it with Variant Collaborative. “It’s different from most of our other student housing properties since it’s in the heart of a downtown.”
The community was the Gold Interior Design winner at the 2024 MHN Excellence Awards.
The barista’s the first person that a lot of students engage with on a daily basis. (Daydreamer) is truly the engine of the space.
—Chelsea Kloss, Executive Vice President of Design and Curation, LV Collective
LV Collective, Kloss said, tries to be purposeful with each of its projects. For this project, the goal was to engage the city as well as provide the students with a space to call their own as they prepare to emerge as young professionals post-graduation.
Prior to embarking on Whistler, the firm surveyed students and found they were looking for a space separate from the university. At Whistler, LV sets aside school colors and mascots, creating a space that is a bridge between student housing and multifamily living.
It’s all about the energy
Breathing life into the space was another driving force behind the details and layout. LV’s trademarked “energy per square foot” is the process it uses when developing an overall design, planning interiors and picking furniture and decor. Kloss said the company tries to provide “guests” with a place that feels lived in, used and appreciated among residents.
“We will always deliver the most spectacular, most beautiful spaces,” she shared.
Payton DeMarco, LV’s director of interiors and curation, said she strives to create spaces where people will gather and make connections. When she and other executives go back and visit a space, that’s what they look for: Are residents coming together? Are community spaces being used?
Kloss visited Whistler when she traveled to Atlanta in August and was proud of the work that had been done on the property and all the activity within the space.
DeMarco’s “wow” moment was seeing how the monumental staircase that flows down from the main mezzanine into the lobby and the public coffee shop, which is “the heartbeat of the building.”
“This double-height space and how the energy from the mezzanine flows over into the lobby shows how all these amenities work in their own way, but make one big knuckle of amenity space,” said DeMarco.
Coffee. Community. Connections.
The Daydreamer Coffee cafe is what makes the space not just attractive to current Georgia Tech students but the Atlanta community overall. The shop is open to the public, and LV Collective has also incorporated some intentional design features to really engage with the outside community.
The goal was to make the cafe an open and inviting space that exudes sophistication. One interesting highlight is the custom-designed L-shaped coffee bar. Another thoughtful aspect that went into the design process was the use of an outdoor patio, where the interior energy flows outside to invite passersby to come in and experience Whistler.
Exclusivity is not our game. Everybody at Whistler is a Whistler guest. We believe that pouring into the community and the culture for every resident is most impactful.
—Chelsea Kloss, Executive Vice President of Design and Curation, LV Collective
“You’ve got people of all ages that are using Daydreamer Coffee as a hub for business, social engagement and study,” shared Kloss. “From a community perspective, it’s this great way to remove the barriers and stigmas between student housing and more traditional multifamily housing, so that’s been kind of a social experiment.”
The leasing office and other workspaces are located at the back of the main lobby, allowing guests and visitors to walk into the lobby and appreciate the layout and atmosphere and realize the space is more for residents, or “guests” as LV calls them, instead of just the business functions of student housing.
Something that also sets Whistler apart from other student housing communities is how LV Collective uses it to engage future residents with the community. While the property was under construction, students would be introduced to the barista to have a familiar face within the building aside from just the leasing manager.
“As soon as they signed their original lease, before the building was even finished, they met the barista who was set up in a temporary leasing office,” Kloss described. “They started that relationship, and they got free coffee for the remainder of the year until the building opened.”
Kloss referred to these baristas as the “ministers of culture” at all LV Collective properties.
Feel-good spaces
Both DeMarco and Kloss believe that creating spaces that make people feel good and connected is another important factor in “guest” satisfaction.
Whistler incorporates a lot of accessories and decor that make the space feel welcoming and lived-in vs. feeling staged. For example, the design team picked antique furniture that reflects history, so people feel like they can use the furniture in the shared spaces.
The expansive 24th and 25th floors boast amenities such as a yoga studio, social lounge, rooftop pool and spin studio. LV chose to dedicate some of the best real estate in the development to wellness so each resident can feel relaxed and pampered.
“Regardless if you’re there through an affordable housing scenario or you’re renting a penthouse, everyone is able to experience Whistler,” said Kloss.
So, while some of these amenities are viewed as “luxurious,” Whistler wants to give all its guests the same experience. Offering this wide range of wellness amenities supports students’ mental health and allows them to experience student housing in a way they might not have thought possible.
Whistler as a whole is one of the most layered properties that we’ve developed. It is. You’re not going to capture it all in one glance.
—Payton DeMarco, Director of Interiors and Curation, LV Collective
Since social media and content creation are popular among college students, integrating proper lighting and backgrounds was also an important part of the strategy when laying out the design throughout Whistler.
Among the various “Instagrammable” moments throughout the property, DeMarco pointed out the podcast and content creation room as a space she was particularly proud of.
DeMarco considers all the picture-perfect moments and how they would be posted on social media.
“People love posting aesthetic spaces and enjoy being in these spaces,” she said. “So having those special moments to photograph or even just panning around the lobby—that whole space is the Instagram moment.”
