Ah, Buckhead! The hustle and bustle, the bars and restaurants, the buildings old, new and yet-to-be-builts. Who of us has not dreamed of one day living in the shiny towers that overlook our most affluent and vibrant city center? If you’re in the market for a shiny highrise, or a more sedate townhome, we are putting together a rundown of some of them for your consideration. This will take several weeks (we have a lot of them!) so if your favorite isn’t featured this week, stay tuned!

This week, SOVEREIGN – at 3344 Peachtree Road, built in 2008. The condominiums occupy the 28th through the 50th floors.

This is my personal favorite of the shiny new highrises. I love the exterior architecture – the “slice” of building that cuts through and the curves that add interest. The building was designed by the Atlanta architectural firm Smallwood Reynolds Stewart Stewart & Associates.
Smallwood Reynolds also designed other iconic Atlanta condo buildings:
Buckhead Grand (just around the corner from Sovereign), The Brookwood (the Midtown side of Buckhead), The Aberdeen (in Vinings), Aqua (in Midtown) and The Atlantic (rentals at Atlantic Station that will likely one day be converted to condos).

But of those buildings, I think Sovereign is their best work, and they have won many awards for the design. And Sovereign does things right inside as well – the condos are roomy and have the best outdoor spaces I have seen in a condo highrise. They are like an outdoor living room; much larger than in other buildings. The outdoor terraces are cut INTO the building (rather than extending out) and are quite big, so here you can have an outdoor fireplace and even a grill on your terrace, where in other buildings you cannot due to city codes. I also like that the kitchens are all very open.

The floorplans vary – there are seventeen in all, but the kitchens all open to the main living space and there is always a separate dining room.

There are only 82 homes in this elegant and upscale building. At 665 feet tall, it is the tallest residential building anywhere in Georgia (and the 9th tallest building, counting commercial buildings, in Atlanta). The décor is classic modern. The building is also an OFFICE building, but the offices are completely separate, and the condos have their own elevators. What the condos and offices DO share is the Buckhead Club – a private club featuring meeting, dining and fitness facilities. If you live in the Sovereign, the fitness facilities are yours to use 24/7 as part of your HOA. To use the Buckhead Club, you have to buy a membership to the tune of about $1500/year.

But while your HOA does not cover membership in the Buckhead Club, it does cover several private clubrooms (including one where each resident has their own mini wine locker) that you can use. There is also a saltwater pool, 24 hour security, catering kitchen and a guest room (like a hotel room – where your guest can stay for $125/night). The amenities are on the 28th and 29th floors.

Some considerations if you plan to live here – there are several of what may be “extras” at extra cost that are worth considering. Retractable blinds, for instance, to cover those floor to ceiling windows when you want to, and you’d probably like the blinds in the bedrooms to be blackout blinds. This will cost in the neighborhood of $15,000-$30,000 for an entire unit. Also, since the terraces are unique in being ABLE to grill or have a fireplace, it’s worth doing that – it’s like adding an extra room to your condo.

Sovereign is hard to miss because of its distinctive exterior architecture.
It is on Peachtree just south of Phipps and Lenox Malls, just North of Piedmont, and across Peachtree from the Atlanta Financial Center.

The Sovereign units are still being sold new, by the developer – and listings range in price from $890,000 to $2,475,000, and there have been reported sales up to $5,000,000. Homeowner’s association dues are approximately fifty-eight cents a square foot and the square footage ranges from 1500 to 10,000 square feet per unit.