ATLANTA (March 11, 2010) - Jamestown, the homegrown/international firm that helped revive New York City's Chelsea Market, is making a play for Atlanta's behemoth City Hall East.
Jamestown would turn the vacant complex into a mixed-use project. "We've got a lot of experience with these types of projects," Jamestown Managing Director and COO Matt Bronfman, left, told Skyline Views minutes ago. "We're really well-suited for these types of efforts. We have done a lot of these projects and created senses of place."
The firm has two things in its favor to succeed where others failed with City Hall East. First, they have extensive experience with converting huge warehouses and factories such as Chelsea Market and 111 Eighth Ave. in New York to thriving mixed-use development that attract tenants such as Major League Baseball, Google and (Donny) Deutsch Inc. Second, Jamestown owns Green Street Properties, which developed Glenwood Park in Atlanta. Green Street President Katharine Kelley would play a key role in redeveloping City Hall East.
An intowner himself, Bronfman adds he's a fan of the neighborhood in which City Hall East is located. "It's an exciting opportunity." City Hall East's proximity to the planned BeltLine is similar to the situation at Chelsea Market, through which New York City's High Line runs.
At Atlanta City Hall today, Mayor Kasim Reed told members of the City Council Finance/Executive Committee that Atlanta has a verbal agreement to sell the former 2 million-square-foot Sears property on Ponce de Leon to Jamestown for $27 million. Reed said he hoped the sale would close next month and that Jamestown would pay $13.5 million on the front end, according to a story on Atlanta Business Chronicle's Web site.
Now, for a deal like this to close within six or seven weeks would be incredible, given the illiquidity, reluctance of lenders to loan and overall indecision that's wracked the commercial real estate market. That said, on Jamestown's Web site, the company with dual headquarters in Atlanta and Cologne, Germany, boasts its "deals are often counted in days, not weeks or months."
There is no contract yet, but if a deal can be struck, it will be good news for Atlanta's overtaxed residents, this one included. The vacant, decaying complex been a drain on the city for a while, and the last ballyhooed deal never materialized. Jamestown, a syndicator of German equity that acquires properties and places them in numbered funds, has the knowledge, wherewithal and access to capital to pull off a mixed-use development at City Hall East.
At Chelsea Market, right, a 22-building complex, Jamestown is the managing partner and owns about 75 percent of the complex. It has established cool shops, an open-air market and restaurants. Corporate tenants such as Food Network, Google and MLB.com also have moved in. Chelsea Market is a former Nabisco factory where the Oreo Cookie was born.
Comments