ATLANTA (April 23, 2014) - Flying Biscuit at Terminus in Buckhead proved to be a Mecca for commercial real estate executives this morning. The place was crawling with superstars from Cousins Properties, Carter and CBRE - the Three C's of Atlanta CRE.
Add two former Atlanta Business Chronicle commercial real estate reporters, and the breakfast spot transformed into a CRE-palooza. Based on the steady stream of CRE celebrities and power brokers who breakfast at Flying Biscuit Terminus, it's fertile ground for real estate reporters and PR pros alike.
At one table, Cousins SVP (and great friend of The Wilbert Group) Thad Ellis met with some Atlanta Business Chronicle ad super sellers. Cousins, of course, developed Terminus, so it was a natural venue for the meeting.
In another corner, CBRE Vice Chairman and Tenant Representation Group leader John Shlesinger entered the scene. Senior Managing Director David Lanier and SVP Chris Port of CBRE also were on the scene.
In the middle of the CREfest, Carter Chairman CEO Bob Peterson and President Scott Taylor were wooing someone, perhaps a new client, investor or recruit.
All of this activity was pretty intriguing for me as co-owner of a public relations firm with more CRE clients than any other agency I can think of. It also piqued the interest of our breakfast mate, David Rubinger, who runs a PR/communications firm of his own. (We don't think my partner in business and life, Caroline Wilbert, was as excited at the crowd, not in a bad way.)
It was David who hired me in 1996 as an Industry Focus editor at Atlanta Business Chronicle. As editor-in-chief, Rube move me to the commercial real estate beat four months later in September 2009, when Ann Carrns left for a job at The Wall Street Journal. Ann now is a contributor to The New York Times.
The CRE beat was of special interest to Rube, who covered the beat himself at the ABC before moving up the ranks. He played a pioneer in jumping from journalism to PR before it was cool (and necessary). I'm glad I followed the same path some years later.
(Thanks to Macaroni & Cheesecake for the photo. Check out her blog on Flying Biscuit here.)
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