What a Difference a Little Leasing Makes

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June 10, 2010

The Inside Scoop on the People & Places that Shape Atlanta Real Estate

David Beak in NAI Brannen Goddard's Perimeter office.

Initially, NAI Brannen Goddard's David Beak marketed Roswell Distribution Center as a value-added property on behalf of Mimms Enterprises. Then, leasing interest picked up, the building added new tenants taking 80,000 square feet, and the strategy changed, as did the potential buyer profile.

With the building now 95 percent leased, the new tenants led to three solid offers for the property over the past few weeks. Cobalt Capital Partners closed the deal last week at approximately $53 per square foot for the 260,003-square-foot development at 205 and 215 Hembree Park Drive in Roswell.

"It became a core, stabilized buy rather than value-added," Beak said. "There aren't as many core assets (on the market), but there's more activity and interest with them."

Beak has represented Mimms in transactions with Cobalt in the past, too, so that relationship and trust made a difference as well, he said.

Is the Fat Lady Warming Up?

A look at the General Motors facility in Doraville.

After its deal to acquire Doraville's General Motors site seemingly fell through earlier this week, Orlando-based New Broad Street (NBS) has revived its contract with GM with a two-month extension announced Wednesday.

A proposed $36 million Dekalb Development Authority bond issuance is one issue complicating the deal between GM and NBS. The issuance would require a property tax increase, according to a report prepared for the development authority by Carter and Thompson Dawson Real Estate Services, and would require Doraville itself to shoulder approximately $10 million of the bond deal, according to Tuesday's AJC. Any talk of a tax increase has drawn the concern of both Dekalb commissioners and Doraville officials who question subsidizing the development with taxpayer funds.

New Broad Street has the 165-acre property under contract for $60 million and estimates that demolition, remediation and infrastructure improvements would total another $44 million. The company plans to develop a "clean and green" transit-oriented development near the Doraville MARTA station, with plans for 2,000 multifamily units, 2 million square feet of office space, 1 million square feet of retail and a hotel.

The Most Wonderful Time of Every Four Years

Ben Stafford at Wake Forest University (left) and now (right).

Every four years, the World Cup turns casual sports fans into soccer fanatics, so you can imagine how Pattillo Industrial Real Estate's Ben Stafford feels about the global sports celebration.

Stafford was a Parade All-American and Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year at McCallie High School in Chattanooga, where he still holds the record for most goals in school history. He was also a placekicker for the football team and holds a 57-yard field goal school record. He was an All-ACC striker his junior and senior years at Wake Forest, where he played against current U.S. World Cup defender Onyewu Oguchi. After a season with Major League Soccer's Kansas City Wizards and D.C. United, Stafford wrapped up his pro soccer career and got into commercial real estate, where fewer people are trying to trip him, at least literally.

As for World Cup 2010, which kicks off tomorrow in South Africa, Stafford has a rooting interest in the U.S., obviously, and Holland and picks Spain to win it all. Like many of us, he'll keenly watch the U.S. vs. England Saturday afternoon in a pivotal first-round game.

"Get your game face on," Stafford says. "Get out there on Saturday and support our fellas in red, white and blue."

You've been warned.

Colliers Confab

From left to right: Ashley Wall, Coleman Morris and Catie Glass of Colliers at the company's mid-year meeting/happy hour.

The Colliers International Atlanta crew gathered Tuesday evening for its semiannual meeting and happy hour at Sweetwater Brewery, bringing together the firm's Midtown and Perimeter offices to recognize employee achievement and consider a past that began in the '60s with Cauble & Co., evolved into Colliers Cauble and then Colliers Spectrum Cauble and emerged this year under the Colliers International umbrella. Colliers' leadership committee served the troops dinner, and the evening's festivities also included donations to the Feeding the Homeless Project LLC, which is led by Colliers Senior Vice President Hugh Pafford. Though we admired the straw hat Colliers CEO Bob Mathews wore - with style and grace - company Chairman Bick Cardwell begged us not to photograph it.

Also at the Colliers confab, we met the company's newest hire, Craig Mendel, who joined the firm last week from Cushman & Wakefield and is working with Michael Lipton and John Thornton in Colliers Office Services Group.

TPA's New Leader Entertains the Industry Leaders on the Course

Top row, left to right: Quin Ryan of CBRE, Meghan O'Keefe of CBRE, Brad Kuehn of Atlanta Office Realty, Bill Ward of Joel & Granot Real Estate, Michael Tucker of Scotland Wright & Associates, Jonathan Nixon of Grubb & Ellis and Ryan Bowie of Icon Commercial. Bottom row, left to right: Jim Devaney of NAIBG, Rick Bradshaw of TPA Realty Services, Peter McGuone of TPA Realty Services, Brett Kingman of Colliers and Kerry Davidsen of CBRE.

Slighty cloudy, cool and breezy, Tuesday surely wasn't a bad day to be on the golf course. About a dozen lucky brokers and the Rooster joined TPA Realty Services at Cherokee Country Club in Sandy Springs for an afternoon of the industry's favorite sport. Meghan O'Keefe, Kerry Davidsen and Bill Ward each took home a Visa gift card

The event marked the debut of TPA's new president and managing principal, Rick Bradshaw, who joined TPA from Prentiss Properties. Bradshaw will focus on new business development and growing the company's acquisition partnerships.

Vice presidents Bryan Heller and Marie Kastens also became equity partners in the company and will report directly to Bradshaw.

But Wait, There's More:
CoreNet Hits the Links Too.

Left to right: Chris Ahrenkiel of Tishman Speyer, Diana Simaan of Baker Barrios, Kevin Creel of CresaPartners, Peggy Henderson of Technical Innovation, Darlene Hawksley of McPherson Implementing, Tim McCarthy of Jones Lang LaSalle (and President-elect of CoreNet) and Glenn Wong of Invesco.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we're here to remind you that a bad day on the links beats a good day at the office. CoreNet's Atlanta chapter put our mantra to the test this week, with a golf tournament at Dunwoody Country Club that drew 150 commercial and corporate real estate pros.

We want to cover your next event! Send our marketing staff a note with all the deets and we will do our best to be there.

In case you missed us, click here for past issues.

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