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Miami Firm Slated to Close Next Month on Equitable Building

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 31, 2010) - News that America's Capital Partners had contracted to buy downtown Atlanta's landmark Equitable Building caught most off guard when Real Estate Rooster broke the news last week.

Now comes word that ACP, the Miami-based investment firm, will close on its acquisition Sept. 28, after a slight delay due to the extra time needed to figure out all the easements involved with the downtown tower's location. Acquiring the Class B office tower would be an intriguing move for America' Capital Partners after the mixed results it had at Peachtree Center before selling its managing partner position to Eola Capital.

Neither ACP nor listing broker Will Yowell of CB Richard Ellis commented in Rooster's report. However, Rooster reporter Bailey Webb says ACP will pay $27 million, or $44 a foot for the 35-story, 615,000-square-foot building. The owner is Capmark Financial Group, which foreclosed on the building in April 2009.

For ACP to make Equitable work, it probably needs to rename and reintroduce the tower and pour some decent money into it. The new owners also would have to figure out how to best present the tower's location across Peachtree Street from Woodruff Park.

We'll follow this story closely in the mainstream press and opine further as things develop.

WSJ: Owner of Ritz-Carlton Downtown Atlanta Considers Bankruptcy

ATLANTA (Aug. 18, 2010) - Highland Hospitality Corp., owner of the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta, is contemplating filing for bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reports today.

The Chapter 11 filing, if it occurs, would not happen "until at least next month," WSJ reporters Lingling Wei and Kris Hudson say, citing "people familiar with the situation." This comes as Highland Hospitality's creditors angle to gain control of the firm, the WSJ says.

Ironically, the story appears the same day panelists at the Bisnow capital markets event bemoaned at what they perceive to be negative coverage of the city's real estate market receives in the influential newspaper. But, the news is what it is, and it's mostly bad now - to use a much-overused phrase.

This would be an incredible development in across the country, and especially for Atlanta's hospitality industry, which has been wracked by the recession. We'll stay tuned.

1075 Peachtree: Atlanta's Last Trophy Tower?

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 17, 2010) - 1075 Peachtree just might be the last speculative trophy office tower built in Atlanta. That's my assessment after reading Henry Unger's column in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

 Here's how I reached this conclusion. In Henry's column, Studley President Michael Colacino and key Atlanta executive Clark Dean offer their thoughts on the national office market. Coliacino states bluntly that office tenants today are "in a positon of control like never before."

That's interesting. But the most though-provoking comment from the execs is that the days of developing speculative trophy towers without any preleasing are gone - forever. Forget about getting a lender to fund one of these again. Based on this logic, 1075 Peachtree would be the last spec trophy office tower in Atlanta.

Daniel Corp. and Selig Enterprises developed 1075 Peachtree, the office component of the massive 12th & Midtown mixed-use development, on a pure spec basis, with no tenants signed. And at 725,000 square feet, 1075 Peachtree is the largest multitenant office tower developed in Atlanta since - hell, since SunTrust Plaza.

The office tower at 1075 Peachtree has landed several tenants, including law firms Seyfarth Shaw and Fisher & Phillips. It also signed Boston Consulting Group, and we hear another high-profile law firm is seriously considering the 38-story tower with a Loews Hotel built in.

If 1075 Peachtree indeed is the last of the spec trophy office towers in Atlanta, at least it will have a bunch of high-profile tenants - and a nice seven-figure light wall - to celebrate.

Cousins' Gellerstedt: Atlanta's "True" Office Vacancy is 25-30%

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 12, 2010) - While news of large office leases in Atlanta is good to hear, the metro area's office market won't really bounce back until the region begins creating new jobs again, Cousins Properties CEO and President Larry Gellerstedt said today.

"Truly there's 25-30 percent vacancy" in Buckhead, Midtown and Downtown, Gellerstedt said. "Nothing really gets better until there's true job growth." Compounding the issue: tenants typically require less space than they used to, he added.

So while watching landlords "steal tenants from each other" is good sport, "none of us really wins in an environment where there's no real job growth going on," Gellerstedt said.

Gellerstedt made his comments during a "fireside chat" with local business columnist Maria Saporta and Republican candidate for Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens at the Databank Mid Year Real Estate Symposium. The half-day event, which attracted an overflow crowd, is being held at The Temple in Midtown.

Olens, who resigned in March as chairman of the Cobb County Commission to run for attorney general, said metro Atlanta must regain its competitive edge to ensure it doesn't lose new job opportunities to areas such as Research Triangle Park, N.C., where "the government is throwing around [incentive] dollars like it's water."

"We always assumed that we didn't have to reinvest in Atlanta because the jobs would automatically be here," Olens told the crowd.

So, when will metro Atlanta's job picture improve? This year should be a wash, and the area should gain 50,000 jobs the next two years after. "Atlanta is getting better, but ... we've got some catching up to do first," Gellerstedt said.

National Spotlight Shines on Sea Island

ATLANTA (Aug. 11, 2010) - The pending sale of Sea Island and its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing are making national news this morning.

The Wall Street Journal prominently played a story about the "glittering resort" on the front of its Money & Investing section. WSJ reporters Carrick Mollenkamp and Lingling Wei are on the tony island, based on the article's Sea Island, Ga., dateline.

Several outlets reported news that Sea Island Co. had called a member meeting for 11 a.m. this morning to announce the sale. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Sea Island Chairman Bill Jones sent an e-mail to members last last night after the Journal reported Oaktree Capital and Avenue Capital had agreed to buy the 84-year-old resort for $197.5 million in cash.

The AJC played its story by Scott Trubey, who followed the Sea Island saga closely while at Atlanta Business Chronicle, and Dan Chapman on Page One. And this morning, Atlanta Business Chronicle posted a story saying Sea Island owes at least 1,000 creditors up to $1 billion, citing the bankruptcy filing.

Real Estate Rooster, the online news organization founded by Hardman Knox and Phillip Hight, determined the story warranted a special edition. Rooster crowed with the news at 6:03 a.m. today.

Now the big question is how will operations of The Lodge and The Cloister be affected? Early reports say they won't be. But the big funds buying Sea Island likely will have an eye toward making their investment pay off, and that could lead to some changes.

Either way, it's nice to see commercial real estate news in the limelight (even if it's not great news for Sea Island Co.).

Bottom Hit, What's Next for ATL Office Market?

ATLANTA (Aug. 9, 2010) - It's official: Atlanta's office market has "hit bottom," according to an article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In the article, the AJC cited reports from Jones Lang LaSalle, CoStar and Grubb & Ellis saying Atlanta's office vacancy rate peaked (at 17 percent to 22 percent, depending on the source).

So what's next? Will the market begin an upward climb or bounce along the bottom for a while? We have seen some good signs such as the large leases signed recently in Buckhead. 

News of several of the six-figure office leases including Greenberg Traurig at Terminus 200 (left) and GE Energy at Parkwood Point in Cobb County has buoyed the spirits of brokers, especially landlord and tenant reps involved in the deals. Other recent big office deals actually will have a negative impact on net absorption as companies move to more-efficient spaces. And as last week's unemployment report shows, the job growth needed to create true net absorption probably won't materialize this year.

We should get some insight this week when local business columnist Maria Saporta interviews Cousins Properties CEO Larry Gellerstedt at the Databank Symposium on Thursday. In June, Gellerstedt said Atlanta's recovery remains "fragile and muted." It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks two months later. (2010 generally has been a pretty good year for REITs.)

It also will be interesting to hear from Georgia State University economist Rajeev Dhawan has to say at the Databank Symposium. In early 2009, Dhawan procrastinated that the national recession would not end until this year. The Databank crowd, of course, will want Dhawan to tell them when the commercial real estate market will turn.

Petty Ready to Rock Philips Wednesday

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 6, 2010) - Warning: Today's post has only a thin connection to commercial real estate. It's more about rock 'n' roll. 

But first, the CRE connection. When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers play Philips Arena for the first time Wednesday night, you can expect lots of CRE types in the audience, including Avison Young principal Chet Koenig and his wife Debbie, who runs NAIOP Georgia. 

Also, Petty has a long history of writing songs with real estate overtures ("One Story Town," "The Apartment Song," "Century City"). 

To celebrate Petty Week and the Mojo Tour's local stop, I dug up an article I wrote seven years ago for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. At the time, the show at Arena at Gwinnett marked the 35th time I'd seen Petty & Co. live. Next week's concert will be No. 44.

Rock 'n' roll's 'Everyman' appears tonight at Arena

BY TONY WILBERT

13 August 2003

The Atlanta Journal - Constitution

When Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers take to the stage for tonight's concert at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, it will mark the 35th time I've seen the band live.

I've traveled coast to coast to see Petty and the Heartbreakers, rivaled only by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Aerosmith for longevity among American rock 'n' roll bands.

While Springsteen often is hailed as a working-class hero, Petty appeals to rock's Everyman.

Petty, 52, postures, dances and urges the audience to sing along throughout his concerts. And his backers, the Heartbreakers, are one of the tightest rock groups around.

I first saw Petty in the summer of 1980 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. I was a 15-year-old high school freshman.

Petty made a lifetime fan out of me that night.

He has put on many memorable shows over the 23 years I've seen him. But the June 2, 2001, show at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas ranks first among the Petty concerts I've seen. Petty played loud and hard that night, and then he got married the next morning.

I've never met my guitar hero, but I've talked with him on the phone.

During summer 1991, I got through to a call-in radio show where Petty was taking calls from fans. When my turn came, I stumbled a little and asked Petty how he would like to be remembered. He was quick with a succinct answer that went something like this: "Like Roy Orbison once said, 'I just hope I'm remembered,' " Petty said.

I taped my one-question interview, and I listen to it every now and then. My wife can't believe I still have the tape around. She'll be with me tonight when Petty plays his first show in Gwinnett County. I'll make a Petty fan out of her yet.

As for the near future, it's off to Nashville for the show Saturday night, No. 36 and counting.

Tony Wilbert is a staff writer for the Business section of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Photo Tom Petty urges the audience to sing along throughout his concerts. / Associated Press

Atlantic Station's Tallest Tower Comes to Life

By Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies

via carterblog.typepad.com

Green Street, Jamestown File Plans for Huge Mixed-Use Development on Chattahoochee

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 4, 2010) - Plans filed today with the state of Georgia provide some interesting insight into what Green Street Properties, Jamestown and Marthasville Development plan to do with an 87-acre brownfield site on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in south Cobb County.

The development team led by Green Street, which Jamestown acquired in December 2008, plans to create Riverview on the Chattahoochee, a large mixed-use development with 240,000 square feet of commercial space and 2,180 residential units. 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Green Street and Jamestown's plans last summer, but little has been written about it since. Today's DRI filing sheds some light into the development team's ambitious plans for this part of south Cobb County. The industrial land is owned by Riverview Industries, according to the filing.

No before you go screaming, "What! We don't need any more commercial or residential right now!" Green Street and Co. say the project won't be completed till 2017. We'll surely be out of this real estate recession by then. Right?

Portman Continues to Market SunTrust Plaza III

ATLANTA (Aug. 3, 2010) - You've got to love John Portman's style. Even in this current commercial real estate market, the architect/developer continues to push plans for a 1 million-square-foot office tower adjacent to SunTrust Plaza Garden Offices (below left) and SunTrust Plaza.

Portman, 85, who created downtown Atlanta's skyline with Peachtree Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, Marriott Marquis and Hyatt Regency, has been planning SunTrust Plaza Phase III for more than a decade. "We're trying to make that Phase III building happen," Portman Management exec Brian Hogg told me in June 2000 for an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story.

Plans for Phase III, on a tract a Portman affiliate owns with SunTrust Banks, were moved to the back-burner after Sept. 11, and they have remained there. But that hasn't stopped Portman from subtly marketing the office tower. The copy "A Proposed SunTrust Plaza Phase III" is prominently positioned on the website for SunTrust Plaza. 

I found it this week after clicking on an advertisement for SunTrust Plaza in an edition of Bisnow Atlanta. The SunTrust Plaza site is filled with all kinds of good-but-outdated information about Phase III.

I won't be surprised of Portman's SunTrust Plaza Phase III is one of the first new office towers out of the ground when the current malaise ends and the market turns.

(In this photo, John Portman is shown at Atlanta's Blue Ridge Grill this spring with Ben Johnson, author of Sam Zell biography Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks. No word on whether Johnson is angling to write Portman's biography. Maybe Maria Saporta will do it.)