Hermes store shaping up along with Buckhead Atlanta

French luxury retailer Hermes’s future Buckhead store location is beginning to take shape, along with the first above-ground construction of OliverMcMillan’s Buckhead Atlanta mixed-use development in what was the old Buckhead Village.

Photo above was shot Thursday of this week of the retail store being
constructed at the corner of Buckhead Avenue and Bolling Way, the site
that has been earmarked for French luxury retailer retailer for years.

More than three years ago, construction stopped on developer Ben Carter’s large retail and residential site in the heart of Buckhead, formerly known as "The Streets of Buckhead.” Now, the five cranes are moving and there is visible progress at Buckhead Atlanta.

Ever since the early renderings for Streets of Buckhead, Hermes was sketched in at the corner of Buckhead Avenue and Bolling Way in the massive redevelopment of the former Buckhead Village into a retail/residential/entertainment neighborhood. It remained so after OliverMcMillan purchased Streets of Buckhead and renamed it Buckhead Village.

The architect's drawing of the retail area of Buckhead Atlanta has always
shown Hermes at the intersection of Buckhead Avenue and Bolling Way/

Hermes has been patiently waiting. It was one of the first leases announced by Carter at the former Streets of Buckhead. The commitment was so solid that Carter moved Hermes into a building he owned just up Buckhead Avenue next to Fado’s Irish Pub.

There Hermes has sat, patiently waiting for the promised retail land to actually develop.

There will be about 80 retailers but the developer is staying silent about which ones they're courting or have signed on, except for marquee tenant Hermes.

"The idea is to diversify the kind of tenants that are in here. More mid-to upper, in terms of the caliber but also diversify so it has a broad appeal to Atlanta," Hunter Richardson, OliverMcMillan's Managing Director of Development for the project recently explained to 11 Alive news.

The photo above, also shot Thursday of this week, shows the perspective
of the retail store construction--presumed to be the Hermes store--with a
view up Buckhead Avenue, at the right side of the photo and Bolling Way,
which enters Buckhead Avenue at the break in the fence screening. 

The developer says the restaurants will also be diverse and include options from cafes for a quick bite to fine dining. The plan is to open the open the first handful of retailers by the holidays of 2013. That may be optimistic, since such construction takes usually at least 18 months.

Crews are currently also working on the underground parking deck which will have 2,400 parking spots. Possibly next on the punch list will be the two luxury apartment buildings, with 370 units which will be built to condominium standards.

With the slow but steady progress, OliverMcMillan says most of the project will be complete by the end of 2014. All of Buckhead is waiting to see that happen; but probably nobody more than the owners and staff of Hermes Buckhead.