Skyline Views

Never-Built CityPlace Still Stands Tall in Buckhead

ATLANTA (Oct. 16, 2012) - One CityPlace, part of a planned massive condo compound,  never got off the ground. But it still rises high above a fallow field at Roxboro and East Paces Ferry roads.

The Related Group of Miami still has yet to take down the large mockup of the 29-story story tower that the recession stopped. From the right angle, it appears as One CityPlace really exists.

The vacant sales office, however, tells passersby that the project never happened. (In photo at left, the building on the right is real.)

In an Oct. 5, 2009, story about the lender taking back the CityPlace property, Atlanta Business Chronicle dubbed it "the largest condo project ever planned in Buckhead." It's clearly the largest model of something never built.

In the 2009 story, the same model is seen in the photo that accompanied commercial real estate rpeorter Doug Sams' story.

That means the model remains on Roxboro more than three years after the project was scrapped. Some graffiti exists on the sides, but overall it's in great shape. I hope to see it available on eBay soon.

Read it for Yourself: Bank of America Plaza Foreclosure Notice

ATLANTA (Feb. 7, 2012) - What is the Bank of America Plaza foreclosure, anyway? What will be read on the Fulton County Courthouse steps this afternoon when the "auction" takes place?

Read the official notice here.

Lender Takes Back Bank of America Plaza (w/photos)

4 p.m. UPDATE: In the end, the Bank of America Plaza event proved somewhat anti-climatic. There was full-blown bidding war, and no one had to break out $250 million in cashier's checks.

The lender, a consortium of investors, took back the trophy tower - using its own interest in the 55-sty tower as legal tender. Next step: Look for the group to market the tower for sale.

Nevertheless, the scene at the courthouse was dramatic. News outlets from across the country convered on the court administrator as he read the legal notice. And, yes, things got sideways when Occupy Atlanta joined the fray. (See photo for proof.)

Now, the real bidding war starts.

 

ATLANTA (Feb. 7, 2012) - Today is the biggest news day ever in Atlanta commercial real estate.

Bank of America Plaza, the tallest office tower ever to be foreclosed on, likely will be auctioned on the Fulton County Courthouse steps. It won't be an auction with an auctioneer quickly soliciting bids, but several potential buyers could quietly compete for the 55-story tower at 600 Peachtree St. (Thanks, Wikipedia for the photo.)

If it auction occurs, the winner will need to produce cashier's checks for millions of dollars. The winning bidder will walk inside the courthouse, hand over the checks and get title immediately.

Press from across the country and around the world are expected to cover the event. Even Al Jazeera's English network has called, seeking information about the auction. Mix in the potential that Occupy Atlanta will show up to heckle Bank of America (now a much-smaller tenant in its namesake building), and the auction will be quite a spectacle.

The lender likely will attempt to buy back its loan. Insiders also say they won't be surprised if Cousins Properties, the tower's original developer, make a bid. Today will be incredibly interesting in the world of CRE news.

Another Major Marietta St. Tenant Looks to Leave

(Updated Aug. 10 with link to the AJC story.)

ATLANTA (Aug. 8, 2011) - Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured an interesting article about the large amount of space the federal government occupies in metro Atlanta. All told, federal agencies occupy 8 million square feet in Atlanta.

"Of that, 4.7 million square feet is leased for $106.9 million in annual rents," AJC commercial real estate reporter Rachel Tobin writes. "Leases on about half that space, totaling $42.3 million in annual rent, expire in the next three years."

One leased building is 40 Marietta St., also known as Five Points Plaza or "The Pagoda Building," after its odd-looking stucco exterior (see for yourself at left). It's currently occupied by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The AJC article says Shyam Reddy, Atlanta region administrator of the General Services Administration, would like to relocated the HUD to the feds' Peachtree Summit building.

"Although the vacancy rate for federal buildings in metro Atlanta is only about 2.5 percent, Reddy said he has some space available that would allow him to cancel some leases," Tobin writes. "For example, he wants to move Housing and Urban Development out of privately-owned 40 Marietta St. into the government-owned Peachtree Summit building on West Peachtree. And he has some room at the recently renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building downtown."

Dick Bowers, one of Atlanta real estate's most prolific brokers/developers and colorful characters, lost control of Five Points Plaza in 2009, when it was sold at foreclosure.

While moving HUD from leased space to government-owned space sounds good to me as a taxpayer, it won't do much good for Marietta Street. As someone who worked on Marieta Street from 1999-2004 and 2007-2009, I saw the corridor improve. But "after" the recession, Marietta is having a tough time bouncing back from the loss of the AJC.

 

 

Atlanta Contractor Could Gain Control of Stalled Jacksonville Condo Tower

ATLANTA (May 19, 2011) - A fascinating battle is unfolding south of the (Georgia-Florida) border, and it doesn't involve Bulldogs or Gators. It's a legal fight between a well-known Atlanta contractor and a developer who built tens of thousands of apartments in the city - and once owned the Atlanta Knights hockey club. 

Choate Construction and the developer of Berkman Plaza 2, a condo tower on Jacksonville's waterfront that's been stalled since December 2007, are facing off over a lien. Choate is seeking to foreclose on the property, according to a Sunday story in the Florida Times-Union. (The photo at left comes from LoneStarMike of SkyscraperPage Forum.)

In February, Choate announed that an arbitrator ruled in the contractor's favor, and Choate - a leinholder - has filed a notice to foreclose on the property, the Times-Union reports. A court hearing in the matter is slated for August.

The condo tower, developed by David Berkman, a longtime Atlantan who now lives on Amelia Island, Fla., explained way back in 1996 why he enjoyed owning real estate. "I always wanted something to work for me seven days a week," Berkman said. "I always wanted to own real estate. I don't know why." Read more: David Berkman ices deals | Atlanta Business Chronicle 

Now Berkman will have to fight to hold on to his namesake tower. A hearing on the foreclosure has been set for August, the Times-Union reports.

 

 

 

 

Georgia's Own Supplied $30 Million Note on Campanile: ATLaw Blog

Andy Peters of The Daily Report just posted the most comprehensive financial data regarding John Dewberry's stunning $36 million acquisition of Campanile.

In the ATLaw blog, Peters cites sale documents showing Georgia's Own Credit Union provided a note for $30 million to finance the purchase. He also quotes an attorney for the credit union who says Dewberry did not supply any additional equity above the $6 million he put down initially to make the deal happen.

Check out the complete report here. Fascinating scoop by Peters, a former Bloomberg reporter.

Hedge Fund Manager Envisions 115 New Parks Emerging from Stalled Atlanta Developments

ATLANTA (Sept. 22, 2010) - For the past year, there's been low-level buzz in Atlanta's commercial real estate industry about a major fund that would replace a slew of failed developments with new parkland. While people knew the public/private effort's name, Redfields to Greenfields, they did not know a lot about the program, the guy behind it or how it would work.

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution includes a lot of answers questions people are asking. In an interview with AJC reporter Jeffry Scott, Georgia Tech grad and hedge fund partner Michael Messner explains the Redfields to Greenfields program. (Several blogs, hedge fund trades and Carson Matthews' Buckhead Blog also picked up on the story today. AJC reporter Dan Chapman broke the initial story in December.)

"A Fed-backed land bank would finance purchases of bad real estate at 0 percent interest though the banks," Messner tells Scott. "Nationally a $200 billion fund would stabilize the $30 trillion real estate market, producing a huge return on investment."

Messner specifically identifies Ben Carter's Streets of Buckhead development in his plan. "...finishing the Streets of Buckhead would cost about $1.5 billion," he tells the AJC, which recently reported that the project will be downsized. "If the banks financed Streets of Buckhead, Atlanta would just have more of the same: excess commercial and residential developed real estate. An investment in green space of that same magnitude would remake the entire region and stabilize everyone's property values."

Ultimately, if Messner and his wife Jenny can make Redfields to Greenfields work, the equivalent of 15 new Piedmont Parks would be created inside the Perimeter and 100 OTP. 

Messner's plan is grand and hard to imagine. Then again, if people like him didn't think big, we wouldn't have a lot of the landmark developments we take for granted.

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.).