Skyline Views

Atlanta's Mayor Knows Importance of #CRE to City

ATLANTA (Dec. 19, 2011) - If there's a major-city mayor who's worked better with the city's commercial real estate market than Atlanta's Kasim Reed, I'd like to meet him or her.

Mayor Reed has emerged as a critical figure in the city's attempt to resurrect its CRE market, and that's important. Commercial real estate built Atlanta, figuratively and literally. Some say commercial real estate is to Atlanta what cars are (were) to Detroit.

The long list of developers who made Atlanta an international city is long and includes John Portman, Tom Cousins, Frank Carter and Don Childress.

Last week, the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors honored Reed's efforts. The influential industry group awarded its Henry H. Robinson Award to the mayor at its annual business luncheon. (In photo at left, Mayor Reed, center, accepts the award from 2011 Awards Chair Billy Hobbs, left, and Board President John Ferguson of CBRE.)

The award goes to people outside CRE who make an "outstanding contribution to the real estate industry."

Reed's contrubtions are highly visible. He oversaw two key CRE transactions in the city in the past 14 months.

In July, Reed celebrated the sale of City Hall East, the humongous former Sears warehouse on Ponce de Leon, to hometown firm Jamestown. The 2 million-square-foot hodgepodhge of buildings sat mostly vacant after another CRE group failed in its attempt to redevelopment the property.

In Jamestown, Reed helped the city find a well-financed partner led by a Morningside resident who wanted to get Jamestown involved in its hometown after a 10-year development absence.

In November 2010, the mayor accepted from Cox Enterprises, on the city's behalf, the donation of the former Atlanta Journal-Constitution building at 72 Marietta St. downtown. The city will house employees in the building that had been the anchor of Marietta Street for three decades. An empty AJC building would have pulled down the Marietta corridor, which is showing signs a couple blocks away.

It clearly took vision and persuasion on Reed'd part to get Cox to give the city a building valued at $50 million (the tax writeoff notwithstanding).

Moving forward, I'm sure we'll see more CRE activity from the mayor's office that benefits city residents. (Disclosure: I served on the communications committee of Kasim Reed for Mayor, Inc.)

 

Dewberry Picks Up Prime Peachtree Property

ATLANTA (July 6, 2011) - John Dewberry has picked up another prime Peachtree property in Midtown. 

An affiliate of his Dewberry Capital Corp. acquired the grassy field at the northwest quadrant of Peachtree & 17th streets for $6 million. In mid-June, Bisnow Atlanta broke the news that Dewberry had the property under contract, and Atlanta Business Chronicle reported over the weekend that the transaction closed June 27.

A mixed-use development dubbed 1400 Peachtree had been designed for the 1.7-acre tract, but the real estate recession ruined those plans.

With the deal, Dewberry adds a key north Midtown parcel to his collection. Dewberry stunned real estate watchers last year when he acquired Campanile at Peachtree & 14th. He also owns Peachtree Pointe, the Dewberry Ansley development site and Rhodes Center in the Pershing Point area of Midtown.

Dewberry Capital is working to rebrand the area as "Uptown" Atlanta.

 

Status: Facebook Hiring for New Atlanta Office

ATLANTA (July 5, 2011) - News that Facebook is opening a new Atlanta office created big buzz over the holiday weekend. Several media outlets, including The Associated Press, Atlanta Business Chronicle and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution weighed in with stories, and Twitter users helped spread the word.

So, Skyline Views figured it was worth a trip to see the new office space being built out at the Midtown West (aka Brickworks) development at Marietta and Howell Mill streets. We took our iPhone with us (as always) and snapped shots of the building exterior and of what we could see inside. The photo at left shows the exterior, which can be described as corrugated-cool-loft-office-chic.

As the photo below shows, work is underway at the address listed on the city of Atlanta building permit (1000 Marietta St., Suite 134), though the name of another company remains at the entry. The permit names Facebook and says the work to be completed includes "Offices Renovation Suite 134" and "Tenant Finish to Suite 134."

Facebook itself says it's expanding in Atlanta: "Everything is just peachy here in Hot-Lanta, where we are one of the fastest growing offices in the East Region and look forward to continue growing this fantastic region for Facebook."

In a statement delivered to the AJC, Facebook says the company has "a growing sales presence in Atlanta and is expanding its offices in order to work more closely with advertisers in the region."

And Facebook is advertising sales jobs in Atlanta that presumably will be housed in the new office. Here's Facebook's ad for one available job, a "Client Partner."

This story will continue to unfold. Hope we're invited to the opening party.

Facebook Building Out Midtown Atlanta Office, Patch reports

ATLANTA (July 2, 2011) - Most Atlantans consider the West Midtown area to be a high-tech hotbed. News breaking this evening that Facebook, which dubs itself "the largest social networking site on the planet," is building out an office at Brickworks in West Midtown will solidy the area as King of Office Cool. This, according to a Patch.com story from contributor Caleb Spivak.

Last week, the day before the AJC hosted Mashable's Social Media Day Atlanta at Five Seasons in the Brickworks development, Facebook filed plans with the city of Atlanta for "office renovations" and tenant improvements. Facebook is building out Suite 134 at 1000 Marietta St., Spivak reports. Skyline Views confirmed this information on the city of Atlanta's website, which includes the building permit (shown above).

Richard Martin and George Rohrig attempted to position West Midtown as Atlanta's tech center in 1999, as the dot-com bubble filled with air. More than 10 years later, it's back.

It won't be Facebook's first Atlanta office, but it should create some buzz and leave no doubt West Midtown is the place for social networking/social media companies.