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.

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