Palms Hotel to be Redeveloped as Student Housing

The 1.46-acre redevelopment site at 70 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue, currently a hotel, rental-car facility and parking garage, will be transformed into a student-housing complex just 100 yards from the future location of Georgia State University’s new business and law schools.

Legacy Palms LLC sold the asset to an affiliate of Valdosta, GA-based Ambling University Development Group for $7.9 million.

John DeYonker, vice president of Land & Developer Services at Bull Realty, represented the seller in this transaction.

Ambling University Development Group will redevelop the site in two phases. The first will open in summer 2013 after a renovation of the old 200-room Ramada Hotel into approximately 138 units and 291 beds. A new tower featuring approximately 108 student-housing units and 424 beds will open in summer 2014, along with a new parking garage.

Besides the close proximity to GSU and its 32,000-student population, the property offers access to interstates 75 and 85, Atlanta’s commuter rail and the city’s streetcar line, which will begin operating in 2013. 

"The seller chose to work with a Georgia group that had experience in the GSU market," said DeYonker, the only broker involved in the transaction.