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I'm Sorry. Can I Buy Your Building?
Kris Cooper and Steve Collins of Jones Lang LaSalle.
It's common for the national and international real estate investment community to castigate Atlanta, but those same investors may be saying, "I'm sorry," and showing up with candy and roses this year.
Jones Lang LaSalle expects a 40 percent increase in U.S. commercial property investment activity in 2011, CEO Colin Dyer noted at the company's Atlanta Real Estate Forecast breakfast Wednesday at the Buckhead Club. A lack of transactions and suitable returns at the top of the capital markets pecking order - New York, D.C. and San Francisco - means investors will scour the next tier - Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago, etc. - for better returns.
"We feel there's pent up demand, and Atlanta is going to be a beneficiary," said Stephen Collins, managing director of JLL's International Capital Markets Group.
Collins joined JLL locals Chris Marshall and Kris Cooper, as well as MetLife's Tom Coakley and Sonny Morris of Morris, Manning & Martin on the capital markets' panel.
Jones Lang LaSalle also released its Urban Skyline Review, a survey of the Top 50 ITP office buildings. Atlanta's trophy properties are 29.2 percent vacant but did have more than 600,000 square feet of net absorption last year, not a great number historically but better than the previous year's negatives. There are 33 blocks of contiguous space of 30,000 square feet or more and tenants are in the urban market seeking 3.7 million square feet of office space. A shrinking supply of sublease space in Atlanta trophy properties also brings good news, as empty secondary space represented 1.3 percent of the market at the end of 2010.
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It Takes All Kinds (of Tenants)
Standing: Jeff Hensen, Trey Barry, Pat Murphy, Bill Kee and Tanner Hicklin of CB Richard Ellis. Seated: Andrea Phillips of CB Richard Ellis.
With the tenants CB Richard Ellis' industrial agency leasing team recently landed - a tactical surveillance platform maker, an import car parts distributor, a tire manufacturer and a wood products company - you could make the world's most interesting and bizarre vehicle.
The team - Bill Kee, Pat Murphy, Trey Barry, Tanner Hicklin, Jeff Henson and Andrea Phillips - recently closed more than 300,000 square feet of deals, and, overall, represent owners with 16 million square feet of industrial properties. The most recent transaction involves Bridgestone Tires' 35,631-square-foot lease at Cobalt's Gwinnett Progress Center, with Jones Lang LaSalle's Bob Robers and Paul Roeser representing the tenant. The CBRE industrial agency team also closed a 121,864-square-foot lease with WorldPac at INVESCO's Indian Brook development, an 80,704-square-foot deal with ICX Tactical Platforms at Crescent Resources and Cobalt's Shiloh 400 park and a 38,736-square-foot deal with Wurth Wood Group at American Realty Advisors' North Atlanta Distribution Center. Chip Craighill of Cushman & Wakefield represented WorldPac, while NAI Brannen Goddard's Brad Pope represented ICX Tactical Platforms. CBRE's Chris Eckles represented Wurth Wood Group.
Last year, the CBRE team closed 2.5 million square feet of industrial deals, and they're cautiously optimistic regarding the next 12 months. Potential tenants are moving from kicking tires to closing deals, Murphy said.
"We're seeing a shift," Murphy said. "A lot of these delayed projects are coming back and signing. We're pretty optimistic for 2011, especially in comparison with 2010."
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JLL's High Rollers
 From left to right: Paul Roeser, Jones Lang LaSalle; Ferdinand Seefried, Seefried Properties; Greg Thurman, Panattoni; Adon Panattoni of Panattoni; Alan Clayton, Jones Lang LaSalle.
It was like the scene in The Godfather where the Five Families gather to break bread and discuss a truce, only this time it was Jones Lang LaSalle's industrial soiree Tuesday evening in a private, upstairs room at Blue Pointe, which drew senior executives from Duke Realty, Panattoni, First Industrial, Seefried Properties and Sealy & Co., as well as JLL's Craig Meyer, who leads the firm's U.S. industrial efforts, and JLL CFO and COO Lauralee Martin.  |
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NAIOP on the Road
Front row: Dan DeMarco (Boston), Rob Bauar (Baltimore) and Joe Terrell (Atlanta). Back row: Mark Fornes (Dayton), Jim Ryder (Atlanta), Watt Neal Atlanta), Mike Murphy (Chicago) and Gary Havener (Fort Worth).
Similarly, a group of NAIOP's heavy hitters from across the U.S. met at the Hilton Atlanta Airport Friday for the Industrial Development Forum I Winter Meeting. The forum meets three times a year to gauge national real estate markets and trends in industrial development. The Winter Forum is a can't-miss event for NAIOP's industrial developers and brokers, and some of our loyal participants have attended every meeting for the past 14 years.
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ULI's Lunch with the Learned
Caesar Mitchell, Atlanta City Council President and DLA Piper; Sabina Rahaman, Urban Design Group; Matt Mason, Legacy Property Group; Jacque Edmonds, Urban Design Group.
Few people know Atlanta office development like Bob Voyles, founder of Seven Oaks Co. and former senior development officer at Hines. Voyles shared his thoughts and outlook on the subject with ULI at the organization's monthly speaker series' luncheon yesterday at Two Alliance Center in Buckhead.
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Hitting the Slopes with Graydaze
Graydaze Contracting and the DCT Industrial Capex Team in Beaver Creek, Colo.
While we had a brief, winter respite last weekend and temps near 70, Graydaze Contracting and DCT Industrial slid down the slopes in Beaver Creek, Colo. Graydaze hosted the DCT Industrial Capex Team for a weekend of long business meetings at 11,440 feet. Sometimes a paint job can literally lead to a snow job, not to mention a more aesthetically pleasing, freshly painted building.
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