The appearance of orange and pink ribbons around dozens of trees at the Paces Apartments site in Buckhead has had some residents worried the mature hardwoods were marked for destruction.

Buckhead resident Sylvia Williams noticed the ribbons in late fall.

“All in all, if the trees are marked for cutting down, then Buckhead should be concerned,” she wrote the Neighbor in an email. “The removal of these trees which are more than 50 years old will leave a big hole in our tree canopy and affect the green space and air quality. We take it for granted that they are there, but when they get cut down for the new development, it will affect us all.”

Houston-based Camden Property Trust purchased the site in August for $39 million.

Residents were given until last week to find new housing.

According to Chad Weaver, Camden’s vice president of real estate investment, the ribbons are part of a series of surveys of the 30-acre plot at 77 E. Andrews Drive between Roswell and West Paces Ferry roads.

“We’re performing a tree survey. They’re just taking an inventory of all the trees on the site,” he said. “They’re being accounted for, inventoried and located.”

Once a tree was mapped, surveyors marked it with a ribbon to avoid having it counted twice, Weaver said.

“We’re very excited about this project. It’s a very special piece of land,” he said.
“We need to know what we’ve got. We have not finalized our site plan yet, but we have every intention of maintaining the integrity of that beautiful piece of property, including the trees.”

The multi-family apartment company plans to develop the site in two phases, Weaver said, and is currently in the design phase for the first leg.

He declined to give specifics on what Camden intends to do with the property until the plan is finalized.

The company hopes to begin construction in the third quarter of this year, he said.