Jamestown:  An Eye on Opportunity

Jeff Ackerman, Lee Wright and Matt Bronfman of Jamestown Development gather around the lit New Years Ball from Times Square, vintage 1958 - 1998 in their lobby.

The ladies and gentleman of Jamestown Properties lead a charmed existence. Or, maybe, they just really know what they're doing and have two-and-a-half decades of solid, if not extraordinary, returns to prove it.

Jamestown sold $6 billion in U.S. commercial real estate in 2006 at the top of the market and then started an opportunity fund for redevelopment opportunities such as Chelsea Market and 111 8th Ave. in New York, Chattanooga's Warehouse Row and the White Provision development on Howell Mill Road. Now, Jamestown is performing due diligence on Midtown's City Hall East, the 2 million-square-foot former Sears warehouse that's a city government and public safety center and provides acquisition and redevelopment opportunities similar to Jamestown's bets in New York's Chelsea district.

"What was so groundbreaking about Chelsea Market (redevelopment) is that it wasn't obvious, but those kinds of opportunities seem more obvious now," said Jeff Ackerman, Managing Director at Jamestown. "Similarly, sometime in the near future, City Hall East will look more obvious than it does now."

Prior to 2006, Jamestown primarily focused on core, trophy assets in 24-hour cities, but the investment/development firm has spent the second half of this decade with a keen eye on Midtown, including acquisition of 999 Peachtree (formerly First Union Plaza), sites at 1010 West Peachtree and 1400 Peachtree streets in partnership with Shailendra Group and now, potentially, City Hall East. Demographics and the submarket's concentration of the arts, higher education, interstate access and public transit make it Atlanta's most compelling long-term play, company executives said.  "Atlanta's making the transition from suburban to urban," Jamestown CFO Lee Wright said.

Jamestown's next fund will probably involve a return to the core-asset roots that saw it acquire Manhattan's One Times Square and GM Building, but one consistency shall remain, COO Matt Bronfman said.

"We've always tried to make it our business to invest in non-commodity real estate, whether it's trophy assets or redevelopment opportunities like Chelsea Market," Bronfman said. "Special, non-commodity assets just stand the test of time."

IBM on the Prowl?

A semi-winter/spring look at the IBM Hillside building off Northside Parkway on Monday.

IBM has hired CB Richard Ellis superbroker John Shlesinger to lead an analysis of Big Blue's Atlanta footprint, a move that could lead to the consolidation of its more than 1.2 million-square-foot portfolio into approximately 800,000 square feet of office space, according to our sources.

Shlesinger declined to comment.

IBM has offices and employees across metro Atlanta, including its Northside Parkway campus near the Chattahoochee River and the former headquarters of Internet Security Systems, an IBM acquisition, on Barfield Road in Sandy Springs. If the company decides to consolidate into one location, its lease would be one of the largest single office deals in Atlanta's history, surpassing IBM's former 560,000-square-foot tenancy at One Atlantic Center, the Midtown skyscraper once known as IBM Tower.

Jamestown Properties currently owns the 4111 Northside Parkway campus it acquired for $131 million in 2003. IBM occupies the entire two-building, 864,700-square-foot complex on 56 acres, and its lease expires mid-decade. The property also is zoned for additional development, and Jamestown certainly is open to developing new buildings if that's what it takes, said Matt Bronfman, Jamestown's Managing Director and Chief Operations Officer, when we stopped in Monday to talk about the investment/development firm's big picture plans for Atlanta and beyond.

"Hopefully, we can keep them there," Bronfman said.

Speaking of Jamestown:  Ballard Spahr Renews at 999 Peachtree

David Shope of Cousins Properties gave the Rooster a sneak peek of the future bocce ball court.

Law firm Ballard Spahr LLP has renewed its lease for approximately 25,000 square feet at Jamestown Properties' 999 Peachtree office building in a 10-year deal. CB Richard Ellis' Jay Dowlen represented Ballard Spahr, while Cousins Properties' David Shope and Jeff Dils lead 999 Peachtree's office leasing efforts. Jamestown acquired the 621,000-square-foot Midtown landmark in 2007, and is in the middle of renovation program for the property's mechanical systems, retail space and top-floor Peachtree Club and adding a valet parking court and bocce ball lawn as well as a rooftop garden. This is not your father's First Union Plaza.

YEAH!  YARA!

Left to right:  Taylor Dozier of Hendon Properties, Nancy Waters and Jason Morganstern of The Shopping Center Group, Mike Millet and Tyler Gaines of White Provision, Sarah Williams of SRS and Greg Eisenman of Colliers International.

Mike Millet of White Provisions discusses the mixed-use, Westside project and the area's retail transformation at last week's Young Atlanta Retail Alliance gathering. White Provision's dining offerings alone are enough of a draw, with Abattoir and Ormsby's drawing rave reviews and crowds and Shaun Doty's YEAH! Burgers on the way in April. 

From left to right:  Christina Graham of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, Lee Anne T. Sapp of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, Sabina Rahaman of Urban Design Group, Patrick Gilroy of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, Tamia Sammons of ULI, Kevin Rathbun, Amanda Rhein of Atlanta Development Authority, Kristin Olson of TriMont REA and Ellen Mendelsohn of Central Atlanta Progress.

ULI's Young Leader's Group gathered last Thursday at Rathbun's for a lively discussion about the untapped opportunity for retail and restaurants in under served markets. Among the distinguished panelists, chef Kevin Rathbun and Mark Toro of North American Properties.

From left to right: Paul Shailendra of Shailendra Group, Rob Willis of Troutman Sanders LLP, Sachin Shailendra of SG Contracting.

Paul Shailendra's birthday celebration at Midtown's Ri Ra served as a warm-up for St. Patrick's Day, March Madness and a whirlwind of spring activites for Atlanta commercial real estate. Rooster joined Paul, Amanda and Sachin Shailendra, as well as seemingly half of the city, for a festive Friday happy hour.