Downtown marketers familiar with most of the current new commercial and residential activity tell GlobeSt.com the locally based REIT is considering building two 30-story, 210-unit towers--one along Ponce de Leon Avenue, the other fronting Peachtree Street. A separate 30,000-sf retail center is also in the preliminary development plans, sources tell GlobeSt.com.

Downtown and Midtown construction sources tell GlobeSt.com the estimated 420 condo units would probably have a hard construction cost of about $120,000 per unit or an estimated total cost of $50.4 million. The 30,000 sf of retail could probably be built for $85 per sf or a total $2.55 million.

The 615 Peachtree St. redevelopment would be Cousins' second intown venture. The company's first office and retail project, the $170-million, 651,000-sf Terminus 100, is 41% preleased, Cousins reported in its fourth-quarter financials filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The first 27-story building is tentatively scheduled to open in 2007. Terminus 100 is under construction at Peachtree and Piedmont roads in the Buckhead submarket, about nine miles north of Downtown Atlanta.