Skyline Views

Atlanta's Brookdale Group is Buyer of Cousins' Texas Tower - Price is $167 Million

ATLANTA (Dec. 30, 2014) - Cousins Properties didn't want to reveal which company is buying Cousins' 777 Main office tower in Fort Worth, Texas. The public REIT announced a week ago that it "entered into a binding purchase and sale agreement, with a non-refundable deposit."

The secret didn't last too long, though. A pesky lawsuit filed by a tenant at 777 Main provided priviledged information and ID'ed the buyer as Atlanta's own Brookdale Group. Sandra Baker of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram broke the news on Christmas Eve, while other CRE reporters were out of the office.

As I used to tell my real estate sources, "You can't control the news. You can only help make sure the story comes out right."

The lawsuit itself is interresting, but we won't focus on it. We are curious to find out why the venerable Cousins did not want to release the buyer's name. Brookdale, founded by several former Hines' executives, is a well-respected investment firm. Then again, maybe the REIT's reticence was forced because they new the lawsuit was coming.

Either way, it looks like a great deal for both the Atlanta REIT and Atlanta investment firm.

UPDATE: Cousins just issued a new press release confirming that the 777 Main office tower sale closed today for $167 million. The REIT bought it last year for $160 million. However, the release does not mention the buyer.

 

Here's How a Third-Grader Sees Atlanta's Skyline

ATLANTA (May 7, 2014) - I saw this today at Pace Academy's pop-up Museum of Georgia History, as presented by third-graders at the independent school in Buckhead.

Now we know which office towers and buildings have captivated future architects and developers.

Buckhead's Regent Partners Secures Position for Potential 3344 Peachtree Encore

ATLANTA (June 1, 2011) - Regent Partners has put itself in position to replicate its success with 3344 Peachtree just across the street.

The Atlanta developer and Pope & Land Enterprises have contracted to buy the five-story building at 3330  Peachtree Road, according to an article this week by Bisnow reporter Jarred Schenke. The mid-rise building is the former home of American InterContinental University's Buckhead campus.

Regent Partners' David Tennery tells Bisnow that Regent will redevelop the property as an office-centric mixed-use development by either using the existing structure or tearing down the mid-rise. (Our money is on Regent razing the building and created a twin to 3344 Peachtree, which set a new price-per-square-foot record when Regent sold the building to Parkway Properties early this year.

Skyline Views speculated as much when we reported about a year ago that Grubb & Ellis' Tom Miller had just listed the 60,000-square-foot building at 3330 Peachtree for sale. The building is listed as available on Tower Place 100's web site. Tower Place is one of Regent's signature developments in Atlanta.

Could this be the start of the next building boomlet in Buckhead? Probably not. But if Regent and Pope & Land redevelop the site, they could be first to market again when demand once again creates the need for a new office high-rise in Buckhead - whenever that occurs.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Toyoko Scrapping Plans for 40-Story Hotel in Downtown Atlanta?

ATLANTA (Feb. 8, 2011) - It appears Toyoko of Japan is saying "sayonara" to its plans for a 40-story no-frills hotel  at Forsyth and Luckie streets downtown. 

The 0.31-acre tract at 90 Forsyth St. that would house Atlanta's first Toyoko Inn has been put up for sale. Josh Finley of CB Richard Ellis has the listing, at least according to the sign recently erected on the property that today serves as a AAA parking lot.

Toyoko paid Selig Enterprises a whopping $3.94 million for the sliver of land in 2008, according to Fulton County property records. Of course, it would be interesting if Steve Selig makes an offer on the lot after cashing in once already.

If Toyoko in fact is scrapping plans for Toyoko Atlanta, it would be the latest development in the saga of the planned hotel. Toyoko filed plans for the hotel in 2008 and then went quiet.

But a Wall Street Journal article last summer that said Toyoko still planned to develop a 700-room hotel on the site created buzz in downtown and hospitality circles.

The latest move, the listing of the land, likely spells the end of dreams for a tall, skinny no-frills hotel in downtown Atlanta.

Parkway's Purchase of 3344 Peachtree Will Set New Buckhead Record

By Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies

ATLANTA (Dec. 23, 2010) - Wow. We figured 3344 Peachtree would trade for an incredible number, and it looks like it's going to.

Yesterday, Mississippi REIT Parkway Properties officially announced it planned to purchase the office portion of 3344 Peachtree for a whopping $167.3 million. With 482,699 square feet of space, that puts the sales price at more than $346 a foot, eclipsing the previous Buckhead record of $343 a foot set by the Pinnacle at Peachtree and Lenox roads.

In October, we predicted 3344 Peachtree would fetch at least $15o million. Regent Partners and Jones Lang LaSalle have to be ecstatic about the price they're getting for the 482,699-square-foot tower. 3344 Peachtree is the office portion of the $250 million mixed-use project developed by Regent Partners. The condo portion is referred to as Sovereign, where there are 82 condos now starting at $799,000.

Picking up the 2-year-old trophy asset at 3344 Peachtree is a good move for Parkway, too, which doesn't get the respect it deserves in Atlanta as a substantial owner despite owing several office buildings, including One Capital City Plaza right next door to 3344 Peachtree. Buying 3344 Peachtree - the acquisition is expected to close in late January - immediately will catapult Parkway to a major player in Atlanta.

It would have done the same for North Carolina REIT Highwoods Properties, which apparently was in the runner-up in the 3344 Peachtree sweepstakes.

For the record, here's what Parkway's CEO says about the acquisition.

Steven G. Rogers, president and chief executive officer at Parkway, stated, "We are proud of the prospect of adding an asset of the stature of 3344 Peachtree to our portfolio.  We are very familiar with the Buckhead market given our long-term investment in One Capital City Plaza directly next door to this Property, and we are confident that our team will maintain the highest level of operational excellence that the current owners have established.  At 93% leased and with an average remaining lease term of over seven years, this investment is expected to provide steady cash flows toFund II and will improve the profile of Parkway's Atlanta portfolio."

 

 

CBRE Calls for Offers on Atlanta's First Skyscraper

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Sept. 15, 2010) - Something interesting's going on at downtown's historic Carnegie Hotel, a former office building commonly referred to as Atlanta's first skyscraper.

The historic landmark, as the city of Atlanta designated it in 1990, has been for sale for a while. However, earlier this month, CB Richard Ellis issued a call for offers. All offers must be submitted to Lewis Miller of CBRE by 5 p.m. Friday (Sept. 17). "This upscale boutique property is located in what will be the completely renovated historic Carnegie Building, which was Atlanta's first skyscraper," CBRE says in the listing information. (Photo courtesy of LoopNet.)

The building, owned by Carnegie Hotels LLC, which appears to be an affiliate of Diplomat, is slated to become InterContinental Hotels Group's second Hotel Indigo in Atlanta. The renovation into a hotel Indigo was to have been completed in February 2011 at a cost of nearly $31 million.

However, a new buyer could bring in any hotel flag it desires, according to CBRE's listing information. "Current ownership has an agreement to operate the property as Hotel Indigo, an Intercontinental Group brand, but the property is being offered unencumbered by brand subject to closing requirements," the listing states. "For qualified investors, the attractive in-place debt, which matures in 2012, may be assumable, and $3 million in tax credits are potentially available to an investor."

The property, which has sold for as much as $12 million, now is valued at $4.66 million, according to Fulton County.

The historic building adjacent to the former Macy's store was designed by architect G. Lloyd Preacher, who also designed Atlanta City Hall, Henry Grady Hotel and Bass High School. 

Miami Firm Slated to Close Next Month on Equitable Building

By Tony Wilbert, WNS PR

ATLANTA (Aug. 31, 2010) - News that America's Capital Partners had contracted to buy downtown Atlanta's landmark Equitable Building caught most off guard when Real Estate Rooster broke the news last week.

Now comes word that ACP, the Miami-based investment firm, will close on its acquisition Sept. 28, after a slight delay due to the extra time needed to figure out all the easements involved with the downtown tower's location. Acquiring the Class B office tower would be an intriguing move for America' Capital Partners after the mixed results it had at Peachtree Center before selling its managing partner position to Eola Capital.

Neither ACP nor listing broker Will Yowell of CB Richard Ellis commented in Rooster's report. However, Rooster reporter Bailey Webb says ACP will pay $27 million, or $44 a foot for the 35-story, 615,000-square-foot building. The owner is Capmark Financial Group, which foreclosed on the building in April 2009.

For ACP to make Equitable work, it probably needs to rename and reintroduce the tower and pour some decent money into it. The new owners also would have to figure out how to best present the tower's location across Peachtree Street from Woodruff Park.

We'll follow this story closely in the mainstream press and opine further as things develop.

Portman Continues to Market SunTrust Plaza III

ATLANTA (Aug. 3, 2010) - You've got to love John Portman's style. Even in this current commercial real estate market, the architect/developer continues to push plans for a 1 million-square-foot office tower adjacent to SunTrust Plaza Garden Offices (below left) and SunTrust Plaza.

Portman, 85, who created downtown Atlanta's skyline with Peachtree Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, Marriott Marquis and Hyatt Regency, has been planning SunTrust Plaza Phase III for more than a decade. "We're trying to make that Phase III building happen," Portman Management exec Brian Hogg told me in June 2000 for an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story.

Plans for Phase III, on a tract a Portman affiliate owns with SunTrust Banks, were moved to the back-burner after Sept. 11, and they have remained there. But that hasn't stopped Portman from subtly marketing the office tower. The copy "A Proposed SunTrust Plaza Phase III" is prominently positioned on the website for SunTrust Plaza. 

I found it this week after clicking on an advertisement for SunTrust Plaza in an edition of Bisnow Atlanta. The SunTrust Plaza site is filled with all kinds of good-but-outdated information about Phase III.

I won't be surprised of Portman's SunTrust Plaza Phase III is one of the first new office towers out of the ground when the current malaise ends and the market turns.

(In this photo, John Portman is shown at Atlanta's Blue Ridge Grill this spring with Ben Johnson, author of Sam Zell biography Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks. No word on whether Johnson is angling to write Portman's biography. Maybe Maria Saporta will do it.)