DUNWOODY, GA-In a north Fulton County suburban market accustomed to housing primarily office product, Atlanta-based Lane Co. is gambling the Perimeter Center East area is ripe for new condominium and apartment development.

Lane has paid Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust $10.7 million, or $1.7 million per acre ($39.05 per sf), for a 6.29-acre tract near the 1.48-million-sf Perimeter Mall. The per-acre and per-sf price is one of the highest in this submarket this year, area brokers who do daily deals there tell GlobeSt.com. "It's a price one might pay for a retail-zoned piece of dirt, not one planned for multifamily," a Dunwoody broker tells GlobeSt.com.

The site, east of Ashford Dunwoody Road, houses five small, 35-year-old office buildings totaling about 70,000 sf. Lane plans to demolish the structures and develop 100 condos and 216 apartments on the site. "New condominiums are still relatively rare for this area and we believe demand will be high," says Joel Brockmann, vice president of development for Lane Investment & Development LLC.

Brockmann tells GlobeSt.com the estimated development cost is $54 million or an average $170,886 per unit. He says the company is still working on projected prices and rent ranges for the condos and apartments.