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A Dunavin Deal: DTZ Taps Cassidy Turley Exec to Head New Atlanta Office

ATLANTA (Jan. 28, 2015) - With DTZ's acquisition of Cassidy Turley completed, Atlanta's brokerage community no longer has to wonder who will run the local office of the new DTZ.

Thanks to an updated LinkedIn profile and a tombstone ad in the local business weekly, we now know Lisa Dunavin is the managing principal of DTZ Atlanta. Dunavin held the same title at Cassidy Turley Atlanta since last summer.

Real estate watchers and DTZ competitors have been keeping an eye on who DTZ would tap to lead its Atlanta office. Dunavin sort of held the incumbent position, but DTZ already had a small-but-growing office in Atlanta, and it had just completed a large HQ lease for DTZ client WorldPay at 201 17^th Street in Atlantic Station. (#clients).

A clear sign came when DTZ named Cassidy Turley CEO Joe Stettinius as its Americas CEO.

 

Now it's time for the official announcement from my friend - and the Reverend of Real Estate PR - Bailey Webb, whom I'm sure has drafted a press release that will come out soon.

The Wilbert Group helped launch Cassidy Turley when it entered Atlanta and handled crisis communications on a national basis. That assignment ended, and now we're totally enjoying working with JLL Atlanta, which already has played a key role in some of the new year's biggest and highest-profile transactions.

NCR Adds Fuel to White Hot Atlanta Real Estate Market

ATLANTA (Jan. 13, 2015) - What a week it's been for Atlanta's commercial real estate market.

First, Mercedes-Benz USA confirmed plans to move its headquarters from Montvale, N.J., to suburban Sandy Springs, Georgia (with assistance from JLL Atlanta, a client of The Wilbert Group). And today. NCR Corp. confirmed specualtion that it would move its headquarters from Gwinnett County to Midtown Atlanta.

In June 2009, Urvaksh Karkaria of Atlanta Business Chronicle broke the news that NCR would relocate its headquarters from Dayton, Ohio, to metro Atlanta. And last year, Scott Trubey and Greg Bluestein bird-dogged a tip that NCR would open a major campus in Midtown, close to Georgia Tech. 

The AJC backed its story with great confidential information about the discussions in Gov. Nathan Deal's office that ultimately led to today's big announcement.

Here's the official word from NCR:

NCR to Establish New World Headquarters Campus in Midtown Atlanta

• January 13, 2015
• 5:31 pm

Consumer transaction technologies leader continues reinvention with a unique campus that will inspire employees, excite customers and attract amazing talent

ATLANTA, January 13, 2015 – NCR Corporation (NYSE:  NCR), the global leader in consumer transaction technologies, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to build a new world headquarters campus in midtown Atlanta. NCR also plans to maintain a significant presence at a second campus in the northern suburbs. These locations will enable the company to continue to attract talent from the entire metro Atlanta area to support its hardware-enabled, software-driven business.

The new campus will be located at Centergy North at Technology Square on Spring Street, and will provide NCR with a state-of-the-art presence close to Atlanta’s rich innovation centers and leading academic institutions. In addition to helping the company consolidate a number of disparate facilities into unified and contemporary work environments, improved access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will make it easier for financial services, retail and hospitality customers from all over the world to visit Atlanta and experience NCR’s innovative technology solutions first hand.

“Creating a state-of-the-art campus in midtown Atlanta near Georgia Tech marks an important step in NCR’s reinvention as an exciting and important, global technology company,” said NCR Chairman and CEO Bill Nuti. “You can count on your hand the number of successful technology company reinventions that have been executed over the last hundred years – and NCR is amongst them. NCR runs global commerce and we make the everyday easier as consumers connect, interact and transact with business. We are extremely proud of the important innovations we create and the valuable work done on behalf of our customers around the world right here in metro Atlanta.”

“Georgia has proven to be the top choice for leading companies to locate their headquarters,” said Governor Deal. “NCR chose Georgia a few years ago, and we are thrilled that this global leader will now expand its presence in our state. Our No. 1 business climate, which includes a skilled workforce, a solid network of companies, access to innovative R&D and a critical mass of fiber accessibility and total bandwidth, creates the ideal environment for Fortune 500 companies such as NCR to grow and remain competitive.”

“Technology is a critical sector for our local economy and we are honored to have NCR locate its global headquarters in Atlanta,” said Mayor Kasim Reed.  “Every day, businesses are voting with their feet and choosing the City of Atlanta as the place to bring their dreams and build their businesses. The best companies in the world are building their brands here, strengthening our economy and confirming Atlanta’s place as a leading city for business.”

The new campus in midtown Atlanta will be ready late in 2017 or early in 2018. While a location for the campus in the northern suburbs is yet being finalized, it is expected to open during a similar time frame.

________________________________________________________

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is the global leader in consumer transaction technologies, turning everyday interactions with businesses into exceptional experiences. With its software, hardware, and portfolio of services, NCR enables nearly 550 million transactions daily across retail, financial, travel, hospitality, telecom and technology, and small business. NCR solutions run the everyday transactions that make your life easier.

NCR is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia with approximately 29,000 employees and does business in 180 countries. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Web site: www.ncr.com, www.ncrsilver.com
Twitter: @NCRCorporation, @NCRRetail
Facebook: NCR Corp., NCR Retail
LinkedIn: NCR Corporation, NCR Retail
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ncrcorporation

Media Contact
Kevin Ruane
NCR Corporation
212.589.8553
Email: [email protected]

Investor Contact
Gavin Bell
NCR Corporation
212.589.8468
Email: [email protected]

Atlantan Takes Over as Chairman of Key #CRE Trade Association

ATLANTA - A well-known, well-like Atlantan just grabbed the national reins of North America's most-influential commercial real estate trade association.

Steve Martin, managing principal of SDM Partners, took over as national chairman of NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association formerly known as the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (and later Properties). 

A 31-year veteran of the CRE industry, Martin has been member of NAIOP for 22 years. He resides in Atlanta's Brookwood Hills neighborhood, which likely has more real estate professionals per capita than any other in the metro area.

Martin says that while he's "Atlanta-focused," he's been successful in commercial real estate by investing the time to form relationships across the country.

"Commercial real estate's a lot like putting a puzzle together. I mean, you could buy the same building or do the same deal five times and it would be different each time, and that's what I enjoy about it," Martin says in the above video from NAIOP. "People do business with people they know, like and trust. And the only way you do that is through spending time with them face-to-face.

"You get out of it what you put in."

Here's NAIOP's description and misson (taken from its website.)

Since 1967, NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, has become the leading organization for developers, owners and investors of office, industrial, retail and mixed-use real estate. NAIOP comprises 15,000+ members and provides strong advocacy, education and business opportunities through a powerful North American network.

History

NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, began in 1967 and has retained through all these years its core group of developer members. The association began as a small group of owners and developers of industrial parks in the eastern U.S. who formed the National Association of Industrial Parks (NAIP) to facilitate a forum for the open exchange of information on development. They also had a need for standardized covenants and restrictions, building requirements, and beneficial legislation and taxation. Nine individuals first met on September 12, 1967, in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. 

Reflecting changes in membership, NAIP became NAIOP (National Association for Industrial and Office Parks) in 1976. In 2009 NAIOP dropped the words behind its acronym, which no longer reflected its current membership composition. Over the years, NAIOP has attracted members who are committed to excellence, entrepreneurial in spirit, and want to reach new heights in building excellence.

NAIOP is a leading commercial real estate industry provider of unparalleled networking opportunities, educational programs, research on trends and innovations and strong legislative representation. 

NAIOP's sister organization, the NAIOP Research Foundation, is one of the industry's leading think tanks dedicated to conducting research assessing the trends, economic viability and needs of the built environment.

Mission

NAIOP represents commercial real estate developers, owners and investors of office, industrial, retail and mixed-use properties. It provides strong advocacy, education and business opportunities, and connects its members through a powerful North American network.

Vision Statement

Advancing responsible commercial real estate development, investment and ownership.

 

Houston Business Journal hires New Yorker to Cover CRE Beat

HOUSTON - Houston Business Journal has hired a New York Daily News reporter to cover commercial real estate. 

Roxanna Asgarian relocated from New York to Texas to take over the beat. In addition to writing CRE stories for the weekly print edition, she will author posts on the HBJ's Breaking Ground blog. The American City Business Journals weekly announced the news today, in a story by its associate digital editor, Nora Olabi. 

"We are excited to welcome Roxanna," said Candace Beeke, HBJ's editor-in-chief says in the story. "We know she'll have her work cut out for her in Houston's dynamic real estate community. We think her skills and expertise will be a great complement toPaul Takahashi's outstanding residential real estate coverage."

Asgarian's beat should be busy and interesting. Houston is the No. 1 market for commerical real estate investment, according to the influential Emerging Trends report. However, plummeting oil prices should impact the office market there.

Jenny Agee-Aldridge previously covered CRE at retail at the paper.

Asgarian can be reached at (713) 395-9631, or at [email protected]. Follow heron Twitter @HBJroxanna.

@WSJ Names New National Housing Reporter

ATLANTA (Jan. 7, 2015) - The Wall Street Journal didn't have to look far to find the ideal candidate to cover the housing market and its impact on the U.S. economy.

The paper's global real estate bureau has tapped current WSJ reporter Laura Kusisto to cover the beat, previously handled by Conor Dougherty, who now writes The New York Times' Bits column about The Business of Technology.

As for Laura, she currently covers economic development and neighborhoods for the Journal's Greater New York section. It's expected she'll move to the real estate team within a month or so.

Kusisto has been busy this week as one of the writers on the big story about Mercedes-Benz moving its U.S. headquarters to an Atlanta suburb. (Disclosure: The Wilbert Group represents JLL Atlanta, which played a key role with JLL's Chicago and Dallas offices in the Mercedes move.)

According to a story by Chris Roush of Talking Biz News, here's the focus of Kusisto's beat.

This is a high profile and fast moving beat that touches many topics, including the economy, demographics, the growth of foreign money and investors in real estate, the lingering fallout from the foreclosure crisis, suburban vs. urban development and property-tax trends.

The beat also involves mining economic data to find stories that explain how housing trends are helping or hindering the broader U.S. economic recovery. The reporter will be expected to work closely with other beat reporters covering federal and local housing policy and home-builders.

"The CRE community has lost another great one."

ATLANTA (Jan. 1, 2015) - The new year got off to a somber start for Atlanta's commercial real estate industry as legendary developer Robert F. "Bob" Kern passed away.

Kern's son, Kevin Kern - who followed in his dad's footsteps as a developer - shared the sad news from Atlanta Hospice at about 8 p.m. New Year's Day: RIP my dear dad. So many amazing memories with my trail blazing father. Romeo Foxtrot Kilo out.

The affable Bob Kern introduced flex office buildings to Atlanta. The buildings, usually single story, offered the flexibility of having a good amount of office space in a business-services/industrial structure. Here's what another giant of Atlanta's CRE community said about Kern's contribution.

"Bob Kern was the first to do flex space," King Industrial Realty Inc. Chairman Charlie King told Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2003. "He built on land that cost more than industrial but less than office and hit a home run because, as its name implies, it is space that is flexible, which everybody loves."

Kern's legacy also can be found across metro Atlanta, especially in Cobb County, where he developed several office/flex buildings and business parks including Galleria 75. (When Kern selected the name Galleria 75, Don Childress challenged Kern's use of "Galleria." Ultimately, the dispute was settled with Kern and his partners agreed to pay a licensing fee of $5,000 a year to use Galleria in the name.)

Kern remained active until late last year, when he spearheaded the effort to develop Cornerstone Medical Office Center at Peachtree and Collier roads in Atlanta's Brookwood Hills neighborhood. 

Word of Kern's death spread quickly, and several friends in the real estate community expressed their sorrow and find memories. Here are some of the messages left on Kevin Kern's Facebook page.

Rick Lackey RIP to the greatest salesman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing - the CRE community has lost another great one.

Bradley Fulkerson Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

George Edwards So sorry to read this, Kevin. One of my first decent size Bus Park deals was with Kern & Padgett at Interstate North. Remember it as great experience with Bob and Ben. Bob was a prince of a man. My prayers are with you.

Frank Norton Sorry to hear about Bob. I remember him well giving me a start and sometimes a push on some of my first real estate transactions. My prayers are with your family.

Jarred Schenke Kevin, I'm sorry to hear this. My thoughts with you tonight. No matter our age, it's never easy to lose a parent.