IStar Financial Inc. could announce plans soon to continue the shakeup of its newly acquired Buckhead property, The Mansion on Peachtree Hotel & Residences. According to numerous sources, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts will be leaving the hotel to make way for another ultra-lux hotel brand.

Sources told me the hotel will soon be managed by luxury operator Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The brand caters to a mostly affluent crowd and is well known for very high standards for the properties they manage. This has not been officially confirmed by iStar Financial or the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. That being said, a good number of people have spoken with me already about this, so I would place the validity of this happening as pretty high.

The 42-story Robert A.M. Stern-designed property has 127 hotel rooms, 45 condominiums and also includes the 29 Spa. Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio’s Craft Atlanta restaurant was previously located in the building along Peachtree Road, but has since left the project closing its doors on February 14, 2010. Sources told me Craft apparently was being paid a nice sum of money to have the star chef’s name on it’s prime location restaurant space, but couldn’t work out the terms with the new owner.

According to the today’s issue of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the restaurant replacing Craft will most likely be Del Frisco’s, The Texas-based company has numerous locations scattered throughout the country, including Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas and New York. They are a high-end steakhouse brand and give each restaurant location a unique look. The article states the lease has not been signed as of yet, but they are pretty close to doing so. What do you think about having another steakhouse restaurant in Atlanta? One thing is for sure, the restaurant space is quite beautiful.

Should be interesting to see what happens!

Chances are if you are going to my condo site (http://www.atlantaSKYrise.com) and blog, you are probably looking to view property listings and get as much detailed condo information as possible. I know there are numerous websites you can use to get information and search properties, but my goal is to have a content rich site where you can do everything you need, all in one place.

My site is updated throughout each and every day with the newest properties to hit the market, so it will show every single property available in Atlanta and the surrounding areas – provided they are listed in the MLS. For newer condo buildings, please contact me to find out what is available. Sometimes the developer/seller will only put a handful of listings in the MLS, while there are still a good number available to purchase.

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Click the link to right to continue reading the post. Click Here for More Photos & the Rest of the Feature

Luxury never left.  New owner Tavistock Group brings a fresh approach to comfortable luxury at the St. Regis Residences Buckhead with four new model homes. This is the pinnacle of condominium living and you will see why from the photos. Each of the 52 residences in the building is either a quarter, half or full floor condominium and that makes for truly spacious units.

Tavistock Group took over the building in February 2011 (for an undisclosed dollar amount) and made numerous changes to the hotel and residences. They felt the property needed to be more approachable and could benefit from an extra sparkle. They poured more money into the property to upgrade the common areas and began working on four new model homes, one of which I previously featured on my blog. The end result was a quiet upgrade of a pretty much brand new property – which I am sure most people wouldn’t think needed any upgrades at all. They set the new standard for quality condo living with five-star service and amenities.

Stan Topol & Associates designed this stunning condominium that takes up one-quarter of the 20th floor. The North-East exposure provides beautiful views of the Buckhead skyline, as well as the Peachtree corridor and West Paces Ferry Road. This particular condo has approximately 4,132 square feet inside with 3 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, one-half bath and service entrance. The unit can be purchased with or without the furnishings. Click Here for More Photos & the Rest of the Feature

These are the sales I have compiled over the course of the year noting the 40 highest luxury condo sales for 2011! Sovereign and the Ritz-Carlton appear most often on the list, along with some additional new construction buildings (and some resales too). I kept track of the 40 highest closed luxury property sales, which resulted in $55,344,507 in sales. It’s probably not as high as we would like it, but the market has picked up significantly and this year has started off with a bang!

This is the list, ordered from the highest sale to the lowest: Click Here for More Photos & the Rest of the Feature

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