Skyline Views

700-Room No-Frills Hotel Still in Works for Downtown Atlanta

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

Updated at 5:25 p.m. July 28 with photo of the site (at right). Click on photo for closeup.

 ATLANTA (July 28, 2010) - Nearly two years ago, Skyline Views wrote about Toyoko Inn Co.'s plans for a 40-story, 861-room hotel near Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta. The official filing said the hotel would be completed in 2010.

The Japanese hotel firm has yet to start construction, and little had been mentioned of the plans - until today. The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyoko's plans to enter the United States are on track, and the company will start with a 640-room hotel tower in Queens, New York.

"The New York hotel, to be located just on the other side of the East River from Midtown, is scheduled to open in 2012," WSJ reporter Kris Hudson writes in today's article. "After that, Toyoko will turn its focus to downtown sites it bought in recent years in Chicago and Atlanta. Toyoko ultimately envisions a 500-room hotel on Chicago's Clinton Street and a 700-room hotel on Atlanta's Forsyth Street."

In New York, Toyoko Inn rooms will be "just over $100 a night" and be less than 200 square feet, the WSJ says. The average hotel room in the city is 325 square feet and goes for nearly $210 a night.

So, the Atlanta Toyoko Inn will be a little smaller than originally planned, but it likely will become a reality and introduce a new concept to Atlanta's hospitality industry.

In April 2008, Toyoko Inn Atlanta LLC paid more than $3.9 million to Selig Enterprises for the parking lot at 90 Forsyth that will house the hotel. With that kind of investment, I bet Toyoko is itching to get started.

Dewberry Runs Ultimate Quarterback Sneak

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (July 26, 2010) - As we predicted about two weeks ago, the Chase for Campanile blossomed into the commercial real estate story, for this month anyway. The news also prompted reporters to break out their best gridiron/real estate analogies.

Early last week, word on the street said John Dewberry came out of nowhere and emerged as the leading contender to acquire the 440,000-square-foot former headquarters of BellSouth at Peachtree & 14th streets in Midtown. Because Dewberry, a former Georgia Tech and Georgia quarterback loves football analogies, we'll offer one here. John Dewberry ran the ultimate quarterback sneak on this one.

(Disclosure: WNS handled media relations for Dewberry Capital's March announcement of its joint venture with Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate.)

The real estate press jumped on the story Thursday, with Real Estate Rooster, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta Business Chronicle posting stories. Real Estate Rooster blasted an e-mail with the headline: Dewberry Closes in on Campanile. Rooster writer Bailey Webb quoted an unnamed source saying Dewberry has coveted the former Bell tower for years. "If Dewberry Capital can cross the goal line" and complete the transaction, the firm will add to its impressive Midtown holdings, Webb writes.

Rachel Ramos' story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution included detailed information about the transaction, including a price tag of about $36 million. She quotes Cushman & Wakefield tenant rep Ken Ashley, who authors a blog, describing the Campanile as an "iconic asset."

In his story, the ABC's Doug Sams broke out a football analogy of his own: "The former Georgia Tech quarterback might pull it off, but he faces a challenge if he's going to lead Campanile on a comeback," Sams writes.

Knowing Dewberry, he's up for the challenge and will be happy to tell the world about Campanile when the time is right.

Talk of A-Town: Sales from Space City to Midtown

ATLANTA (July 21, 2010) - Investment sales are being talked about all over sunny, sweltering Atlanta today - and the chatter includes Houston, Redskins' country, New York and our own Midtown.

Atlantans are playing a role in Houston's investment sales market. Goddard Investment Group of Buckhead has hired Eastdil Secured (no surprise here) to market Heritage Plaza, a 1.2 million-square-foot office tower in downtown Houston, according to Real Estate Report. Goddard, whose namesake Bob Goddard also is independent chairman of Post Properties, acquired the property in 2005 for about $130 million. Real Estate Alerts says the tower now is valued at as much as $310 million - thanks to the improvements Goddard made and the new tenants it attracted.

Up the East Coast, in Northern Virginia, Northrop is expected to buy (not lease, buy) an office tower in Falls Church for its new headquarters. The company announced in April that it would move its headquarters from Southern California to Northern Virginia, aka Redskins country. An article in The Wall Street Journal today supposes that Northrop decided to buy instead of lease because of coming changes in accounting rules that will make companies record leases as liabilities (instead of an expense) on their balance sheet. 

And in New York, WSJ reporter Anton Troianovski reports that Atlanta-based Ackerman & Co. lost $2 million in its sale of 9000 Central Park (at left) to Cox Enterprises. Ackerman bought the Central Perimeter tower in 2007 for $33 million and sold it this year for $31 million. In a refreshingly honest assessment of the investment, Ackerman President Kris Miller tells Troianovski, "It turns out we were wrong" about the potential upside of the 205,000-square-foot building that would be about half-vacant when the firm bought it.

And finally, back home, Atlanta's commercial real estate industry is abuzz with word of a high-profile firm closing in on a deal to acquire Campanile. That's the former BellSouth headquarters at 14th & Peachtree in Midtown being marketed by Eastdil Secured. And, the buyer won't be Brookdale Group as Skyline Views speculated last week.

Rachel Ramos Takes Over CRE Beat at AJC

ATLANTA (July 16, 2010) - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a permanent commercial real estate reporter, and she's starting out of the gate with two huge scoops.

 Rachel Ramos, who had covered Home Depot and retail, will take over the beat from interim CRE reporter Michelle Shaw this week. Michelle temporarily had added commercial coverage to her residential real estate beat.

Matt Kempner announced the news to the business staff this morning in the following memo. 

"Our own talented Rachel Tobin Ramos will be our new commercial real estate reporter. Metro Atlanta’s core competency has been commercial real estate, stretching from new office towers to dreams of mega projects and shopping paradises. But the commercial real estate industry is in turmoil. Rachel will walk us through it, sharing the trends and tales and breaking news about those who gamble on metro Atlanta’s horizon. From her new perch she’ll dig out news about which employers are growing and which are retrenching. Rachel already knows many of the players and has tackled plenty of commercial real estate stories through her coverage of retail development. She’ll start the transition to her new beat later this month."

As for the Home Depot beat, the AJC has hired a reporter from Crain's Cleveland, according to Kempner's memo. And to further bolster the team, we’re bringing in Arielle Kass. She will be the new Home Depot/Retail/UPS reporter. Arielle starts Aug. 9, coming to us from Crain’s Cleveland Business, where she covered banking, finance and the legal community. She’s already familiar with the metro Atlanta market, having worked at the Gwinnett Daily Post, where her beat included growth and development issues. She’s a graduate of Emory University.

Outbid for Campanile, Cousins Still in Mix

ATLANTA (July 15, 2010) - Cousins Properties might have been outbid in the Chase for Campanile, but it's likely not out of the deal.

 While the Atlanta REIT isn't expected to buy the 20-story tower at Midtown's highest-profile corner (Peachtree & 14th), Cousins could play a role in helping the winning bidder finance the deal. For Cousins, involvement on the financing side practically would guarantee it leasing and management fees. And those types of fees help REITs meet critical FFO (funds from operations) numbers.

For its part, Cousins declined to comment about whether it bid for or is helping finance the deal for Campanile, at left. WNS took this photo July 18.

As for the favorite among bidders, the buzz this week is that Atlanta's own Brookdale Group could emerge as the new owner of the former BellSouth headquarters building. (Campanile is an Italian term that means "bell tower.") Brookdale could use its current fund, Brookdale Investors Six LP, which plans to invest $850 million in Class A office building, to pick up Campanile. The Buckhead firm might even have a tenant (think law firm with the initials MMM).

Word on pricing is that the winning group will pay $70 to $75 a foot, well below the $200 a foot replacement cost. So even at 15 percent occupancy, the building is a great deal.

During this slow summer, the Chase for Campanile is the hottest story going. 

Mage Finds Home at First Industrial building

ATLANTA (July 8, 2010) - Mage Solar announced plans in May to locate it U.S. headquarters in Dublin, a city about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta. Now word is coming from Laurens County that Mage has picked a specific site for its HQ and manufacturing facility.

The German solar module maker is expected to move into 720 Industrial Parkway, a 190,600-square-foot building that First Industrial Realty Trust apparently sold to the city of Dublin last week. 

Dublin quickly turned around and leased the building to Mage, according to a person familiar with the transaction. (We put in a call with Dublin Mayor Phil Best but have not heard back yet.)

CB Richard Ellis listed the property for First Industrial. Early this week, LoopNet removed the listing, indicating that it's now off the market. The building previously was home to Rockwell Automation.

Though the state of Georgia officially announced the Mage deal in mid-May, Atlanta Business Chronicle scoop master Urvaksh Karkaria broke the news of the $30 million investment two months before.

Trump Towers Atlanta Site for Sale

ATLANTA (July 6, 2010) - Trump Towers Atlanta is done. 

We all figured that would be the case when lenders foreclosed this winter on the 1.-7-acre surface lot in Midtown where Donald Trump planned to erect the 48-story condo/hotel complex. But seeing the promotional wrap removed from the fencing - and the new "For Sale" sign posted hit home the point.

We're hopeful Donald and daughter Ivanka will give Atlanta another chance when the condo market finally improves. Of course, given that no one really knows how deep the city's condo market is, that could take awhile. We'll be here when you're ready.

As for the Trump Towers site, we're sure Jones Lang LaSalle will find a good buyer with some more cool plans. Check out JLL's offering here.