The Eyes Have It
Fred Sheats and Andrew Walker of Colliers.
Marietta Eye Clinic's acquisition of two medical office buildings near Kennestone Hospital is one more example of an end user taking advantage of low mortgage rates and locking in at a prime location.
Colliers' Fred Sheats and Andrew Walker represented Marietta Eye Clinic in its deal for two medical office buildings at 895 Canton Road, where the clinic has had a location for about a decade and occupies 80 percent. The eye doctors bought the buildings, which total approximately 43,000 square feet, for $8.7 million, with McWhirter Realty Partners representing the seller.
With Marietta Eye Clinic's stellar credit, Sheats and Walker achieved 15-year terms below 5 percent at 90 percent loan-to-value. Colliers has closed four transactions in the past two years for the clinic and expects two more in 2011 that will involve either build-to-suits or conversions to ownership.
Sheats and Colliers President Bob Mathews also recently orchestrated a similar property acquisition for Macy's Systems Group, which bought a 90,000-square-foot building on State Bridge Road.
"Everybody, all the buyers, senses the bottom of the market and a good deal," Sheats said.
Added Walker, "Where rates are, it's an unbelievable time to evaluate long-term plans and take advantage of market conditions."
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A Bright Day for Peachtree 25th
Solar Panels and view to the north from APG's Peachtree 25th building.
It may be the winter solstice, but for Atlanta Property Group and Hannah Solar, there's no better day to commission the first solar array installed on an Atlanta multi-tenant office building, APG's Peachtree 25th at 1720 Peachtree Street.
The array consists of 684 solar panels that can generate 225,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually - equivalent to 50 homes' consumption. Over its 30-year lifespan, the array should produce 6.75 million kilowatt hours of energy with minimal operating and maintenance expense and offset energy and other costs for APG and its tenants. Atlanta Property Group also is working with Perkins + Will to obtain LEED EB certification for Peachtree 25th.
In addition to APG and Hannah, the project also includes the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA), the U.S. Department of Energy, Georgia Power, the state Public Service Commission and solar panel manufacturer Schüco USA.
"Holding the event on the winter solstice is a symbolic way to dispel longstanding myths regarding the commercial viability of solar power," said Jay Richardson, vice president of Hannah Solar. "Even on the shortest 'solar' day of the year, solar energy works in Georgia. Not only does the equipment work, but renewable energy creates good jobs."
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A Different Type of Architecture...
Matt Rocco and Alan Tapie of Grandbridge.
Matt Rocco, Alan Tapie and their peers at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital aren't architects in the traditional sense, but when it comes to structuring complex multifamily and other commercial real estate transactions in the distressed/opportunity arena, they may be 21st Century Frank Lloyd Wrights.
The latest distressed multifamily transactions include a $10.7 million loan on the 519-unit Northchase Apartments here, a $5.5 million loan on the 276-unit Woodhaven on Brockett complex in Clarkston, a $4.92 million loan for the Windrush and Langley apartment properties in Decatur, and a $3 million loan for August on Southside in Port Royal, S.C. Courtland Partners acquired Woodhaven and Northchase, while Cocke Finkelstein bought Windrush and Langley. The August Group Inc. bought August on Southside.
Grandbridge has had $1.65 billion in conventional, market-rate deals year-to-date - and another $700 million in structured finance transactions - but financing distressed deals and opportunistic rehabs requires turning over a few more stones, Tapie said.
"With the opportunistic buy, that's where the biggest (financing) gap exists," Tapie said.
Multifamily investment has picked up steam in the second half of 2010, and Grandbridge expects a carryover into 2011 for all asset classes due to a dearth of new construction, improving business confidence and stringent residential underwriting.
"We're starting to see opportunistic investors exercise the capital they've amassed and seeking the best performing distressed, B and C properties," Rocco said.
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The Basics of Success
Monica Davis and Abba Waller of PartnersAtlanta.
Basic blocking and tackling can lead to a homerun. Clearly, we're not above mixing and butchering clichéd sports metaphors, but it's still a good way to explain PartnersAtlanta's success this year.
Partners Principal Monica Davis has known InComm CEO Brooks Smith since she was in college and inquired about the growing firm's real estate needs after running into Smith a few years ago. InComm, a leader in the gift card industry, wasn't locked in with a service provider but needed one with its rapid growth. Davis and Partners Principal Abba Waller, both then at Trammell Crow Co., began working with InComm in 2003, initially helping InComm on the basics of organizing and executing corporate real estate.
Those basics led to one of Atlanta's biggest office leases of 2010 with InComm's renewal and expansion for 186,000 square feet at Cousins' American Cancer Society Center. PartnersAtlanta also works with InComm across the U.S. and has a similar relationship with contractor Archer Western, which the tenant rep firm represented in its lease for 28,000 square feet at Paces Summit and other deals in Tampa and Boston.
For Waller and Davis, who started PartnersAtlanta in 2006, it boils down to: get out there and create new relationships with potential clients, maintain and nurture existing clients and execute the business. Partners also plans to add a few brokers to its five-person team in 2011.
"It's pretty simple - do everything at once," Waller said. "We've found that to be an effective formula, and we don't want to complicate it."
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Everywhere You Look, There We Are
Justin Croxtin, Jeff Frantz and Kay Younglove of Jones Lang LaSalle.
Did a Rooster encounter confirm the Jones Lang LaSalle agency leasing team's best year yet? We'd like to think so. The JLL team celebrated the holidays and a great year at Bistro Niko, an elevator ride away from their 3344 Peachtree offices.
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