The PR folks for The Place on Ponce at 315 West Ponce de Leon Ave sent around this announcement this morning…

The Place on Ponce, downtown Decatur’s first new apartment complex in more than a decade, began welcoming new residents yesterday following completion of Phase II of the development.

Located on the corner of West Ponce de Leon Avenue and Ponce de Leon Place, the 234-unit, two-building, five-story development features contemporary one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space. Amenities include a 4,000-square-foot resident clubroom, 1,700-square-foot fitness center, resort-style pool, dog spa, bike repair station and two outdoor courtyards.

The first phase, completed in late 2014, consisted of 28 units and is currently at full capacity. The second phase, consisting of 206 units, is currently at 42 percent capacity but is expected to fill up quickly.

315 West Ponce, Decatur GA

Conor with 315 West Ponce developer Carter sent along the latest renderings of the mixed-use development currently under-construction at the corner of Ponce and Ponce Place.  He also announced that the project – long called “315 West Ponce” or “315” for short – now has an official name, “The Place on Ponce”.  You can check out their new website HERE.

He also provided this update on the project…

…we are about to complete the parking deck and get it open (in the next week). At that time, the office building tenants will start to park in the deck and we will begin full construction on the apartments in the surface parking lot facing Montgomery. We are well underway on the building facing Ponce and that is scheduled for completion this fall (November). We will begin our leasing efforts this summer. The full project will be complete next summer (2015).

Also, here’s an interior rendering…

Looks like 315 West Ponce is getting a paint job.

Over the years, there’s been much discussion regarding the future of the Dawn Redwood trees on the 315 West Ponce property and whether they would be spared when the site was developed to include a mixed use building fronting West Ponce.  Ultimately the developer, property owner, neighbors, city and other interested parties came up with a plan to keep the trees on-site without disturbing the root system.

Too bad no one spoke with the Dawn Redwoods themselves, who reportedly have caused their own bit of trouble late last week.

According to an incident report from the property manager, which was sent to the Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon, around lunchtime on Friday, December 15th water started bubbling up out of the ground near the water meters on West Ponce.  This ultimately resulted in the stream you see flowing down Ponce Place in the pic above.

A plumber was called out to the site and it was determined that there was a leak in the water line to the existing office building, which needed to be addressed immediately or the ground could potentially become saturated and make the trees unstable.

As reported by Mr. Saxon to DM…

While repairing the water line, the plumber excavated the area around one of the large dawn redwoods that are to be preserved at the property and damaged the tree’s root system.  The City’s forester and Arborguard Tree Specialists examined the damage and Arborguard has prepared a preservation plan to treat the damage and to provide support for the tree. It is unclear at this time whether treatment will affect the long-term viability of the tree.

 

However, the rub of all this is that the leak was reportedly caused by the Dawn Redwood tree roots and not the ongoing construction at the site, according to the incident report.  Mr Saxon reiterated this in a response to DM stating “This appears to be completely unrelated to the new development taking place on the property.”

Here’s to hoping that the remediation plan works!

Dawn Redwoods photo courtesy of Neil

Nick sends in this photo of the 315 West Ponce property.  Looks like the project could break ground soon!

I’m a bit late to this game, but Patch reported yesterday that after a 5 hour meeting on Monday, the Zoning Board of Appeals rejected all complaints filed from residents living around 315 West Ponce that procedures were not properly followed during neighborhood discussions surrounding the mixed-use development of that property.

Patch editor Ralph Ellis reports that “Unless residents take the next step and file a lawsuit, the decision clears the way for the developer, Carter, to build 235 apartments, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a seven-story parking garage in the asphalt parking lot behind the office tower at West Ponce and Ponce de Leon Place.”