Demise? On the Rise!
Downtown's Centennial Tower.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of Centennial Tower's demise were greatly exaggerated.
Jackson Oats Shaw refinanced Centennial Tower earlier this year and recently has closed more than 30,000 square feet of leasing transactions. Vitrue leased 14,500 and was represented by CB Richard Ellis' Jay Dowlen, while CBRE's John Ferguson represented Connecture Inc. in its renewal for 13,000 square feet. Attorney David Wolfe leased 3,300 square feet in a direct deal.
So far this year, Jackson Oats Shaw has closed deals totaling more than 60,000 square feet at the 640,000-square-foot Downtown office building, bringing it to 86 percent leased.
"Centennial's done well, and, across the board, we've done well this year," said Jeff Shaw, president of Jackson Oats Shaw.
Next up for Centennial Tower, a Batmanesque homage to the Hawks and Thrashers. Jackson Oats Shaw is configuring the building's chevron-shaped, LED lighting system with red lights for Hawks home games and blue lights for Thrashers games.
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The Most Wonderful Time
for Tenant Rep
Studley's Andy Lechter (left) and Josh Hirsh (right).
A sea of vacancy suits Studley's Andy Lechter and Josh Hirsh, as well as their tenant rep clients, just fine.
Studley looked at Class A and B space in Buckhead and the Central Perimeter and found 99 properties out of 181 have at least 40,000 square feet available. Sure, some of those buildings have small pockets of vacancy here and there, but many also have multiple empty floors or hundreds of thousands of vacant square feet.
"What's bad news for one side is good news for the other," said Lechter, an EVP at Studley who's been with the firm 13 years. "The costs are better for tenants. The rights are better for tenants in terms of accommodations, and the options are better.
"There's still plenty of caution, but companies realize there's some stability now. This is a great time to be a tenant."
While Lechter and Hirsh have no problem with the sheen of new Buckhead and Midtown properties and concessions the current market dictates, they also recognize the value existing buildings can present for their clients, generally without sacrificing quality. Earlier this year, they represented Munich Re as it chose to remain in 64,000 square feet at 56 Perimeter Center East.
"It's about the best value and not just the best cost," said Hirsh, an Atlanta native who joined Studley after graduating from Indiana University 10 years ago. "It's our responsibility to understand the business needs and not just the real estate needs of our clients."
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Braving the Elements
Heather Lamb of LaVista Associates (left) and Peter Glover of Cushman & Wakefield (right).
Very dedicated Young Council of REALTORS members braved the cold rain for a bus tour through West Midtown yesterday afternoon. A networking lunch and an entertaining panel discussion moderated by Cushman & Wakefield's Peter Glover kicked off the event at White Provision. Panelists included Chris Faussemagne of Westbridge Partners/ White Provision, Brian Leary of Atlanta Beltine, Paul Raulet of Raulet Property Partners and Jim Saine of Selig Enterprises. The tour took the group through Midtown to the King Plow Arts Center, 1235 Chattahoochee Avenue, Piedmont West and Atlantic Station. The trivia question of the day was, "how old is YCR? ". We learned it's a direct derivative of Alan Joel's age and hear it was officially answered at the happy hour that followed the tour at Ormsby's.
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Sidewalk on the Train Tracks
From left to right: Gene Kansas of Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate, Ashley Fantz of CNN, Mary Nelson, Matt Barnett of Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate, Michaela Anderson of Concentrics Restaurants and Ariana Nicole of Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate.We caught up with Gene Kansas at Parish in Inman Park to celebrate the second episode of Sidewalk Radio, his show on 1690 AM that explores Atlanta's unique neighborhoods, buildings and development trends. Episode two delves into the Atlanta Beltline with Brian Leary, president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc.; Gordon Jones, senior military historian at the Atlanta History Center; Jeff Morrison, an architect, sculptor and historian who leads tours of Atlanta's original aqueducts and underground streets; and visual historian and painter Robert West. Following the party, Georgia Organics sponsored dinner on the Beltline, which runs behind Parish.
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Remembering John Hunsinger
John Hunsinger, running back for Georgia Tech in the 1950's (left) and as most will remember him (right).
John S. Hunsinger was a character, full of personality, and the Atlanta CRE community will surely miss him. The founder and president of John Hunsinger & Co. passed away on October 24th. Hunsinger was extremely active in the Atlanta community and with the local Commercial Board of REALTORS. He was a talented top producer with SIOR designation, recognition as a Life Member of the Board's Million Dollar Club, and recipient of the Phoenix and Silver Phoenix awards. He was a true Atlanta CRE icon and will be missed by all.
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