In depth: buckhead market report
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| IN DEPTH: BUCKHEAD MARKET REPORT
From the January 21, 2005 print edition Shifting skyline High-rise development projects will change Buckhead's landscape, alter Atlanta's horizon Steven Sloan - Staff Writer
Cousins Properties Inc. is continuing with plans to open a 500,000-square-foot office tower at the corner of Peachtree Road and Piedmont Avenue by 2007. Not far from that location, Grove Street Partners is looking for tenants to fill what likely will be a 300,000-square-foot office tower at the site of the former Art Institute of Atlanta. Several other real estate companies, including Regent Partners, have expressed interest and laid plans in Buckhead as well. These projects are viewed as vital to the success of Buckhead, which has worked during the past year to shake its party image while facing competition from other intown markets. Any notion of competition fails to faze Sam Massell, former Atlanta mayor and president of the Buckhead Coalition Inc. Known now as the "Mayor of Buckhead," Massell responds to competitors and naysayers with an ever-steady litany of promotion. "Buckhead has the nearby residential for all levels of office occupancy, which none of the others have. No one else can compete with that," he boasted. In fact, he said he thinks the future of Atlanta's skyline will center around Buckhead. "My prognosis is that Buckhead will become the skyline of metropolitan Atlanta. It will outstrip Galleria, Perimeter, Midtown and downtown," he said. While the new office towers bring profits and jobs to the community, they may also have a downside in the form of increased traffic congestion and inadequate infrastructure. But Howard Shook, who represents Buckhead on the Atlanta City Council, said there's not much that can be done to alleviate the traffic development can bring. "Buckhead is limited in traffic options because it's not laid out like a grid," he said. "Traffic's going to get worse. There's no mystery about that. Even if not another square foot of office space was added, it would get worse." Those traffic problems will not have a negative impact on Buckhead's future success, Shook said. "2005 is clearly going to be a busy year," he said.
"We're not changing our focus. We've identified a site that we think is compelling. The reason we sold the buildings was because we were able to get historically high prices for those buildings," he said. Cousins plans to move its headquarters from the Wildwood complex in Cobb County to the Buckhead building. Massell said that move was another sign of Buckhead's strength. "The headline in office development has been the Cousins relocation, not just because it's Cousins or a 500,000-square-foot office building. The headline is that this is a major firm moving from a suburban area to an urban area. That's what we're pointing to with pride," he said. Cousins has announced that CB Richard Ellis Inc. will be a major tenant in the building. CB Richard Ellis already is in a Buckhead office, Tower Place, but John Schlesinger, the company's vice chairman, said there was no need to look for office space outside the community. The real estate brokerage firm will occupy between 50,000 and 70,000 square feet in the building, enough to put the company's 200 employees under one roof, Schlesinger said. The Buckhead office market is not alone in its success. The community continues to see a growth in multifamily condos and retail. These components all work to form what Shook sees as a more sophisticated and vibrant urban community, something that might cut down on the traffic problems. "As Buckhead becomes more urbanized, you'll see people walking more and taking shuttles and making fewer trips," he said. While Buckhead is working toward becoming a more appealing urban community, it has had to face an image problem during the past year. That problem, which emerged after a spree of violence and noise in the nightclub district, gave the community a black eye when it tried to entice businesses, Massell said. "We did have a negative connotation, which has been greatly improved," he said, adding that office developments are now opening near the Village, a central party location. Reach Sloan at ssloan@bizjournals.com. Directory: News -> Georgia Georgia -> Paying for energy efficiency investments a challenge Urvaksh Karkaria Georgia -> Atlanta's district sec office to be regionalized Atlanta Business Chronicle March 30, 2007 Georgia -> Atlanta Business Chronicle From the February 28, 2005 print edition Georgia -> Atlanta Journal Constitution Thursday April 7, 2005 Georgia -> Atlanta Business Chronicle From the January 3, 2005 print edition Georgia -> Charlotte Business Journal March 31, 2006 by David Mildenberg-Staff Writer Georgia -> Atlanta Business Chronicle From the April 11, 2005 print edition Georgia -> Atlanta Business Chronicle From the December 5, 2005 print edition Georgia -> The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Download 12.2 Kb. Share with your friends:
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