Sure, cold calling has a lot in common with banging your head against a wall, but sometimes it all works out.

 
Case in point: NAI Brannen Goddard's Joe Mullican turned a cold call - or a series of cold calls - to PPG Aerospace in Kennesaw into an 88,000-square-foot expansion and renewal for the company. Mullican and Nathan Anderson represented PPG, while Weeks Robinson Properties' Bob Currie represented ownership at 3330 Town Point. With the deal, PPG Aerospace took the entire flex building, expanding from its original, 56,000-square-foot lease.

 
"(Weeks Robinson) decided they would readjust vacant space next door and make it work and adapt to an aggressive market," Mullican said. "It's one of those times when cold calling really paid off. It seems like things are starting to pick up, not just in certain marketplaces but all over Atlanta."

Carter's Drew Fleming and Mark Joines have brokered the sale of Oglethorpe Crossing, a 58,000-square-foot, Publix-anchored shopping center at Ashford-Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry roads near Marist School.

Atlanta-based REES 52 LLC sold the 98 percent leased property to a local private equity group for an undisclosed sum. CVS also co-anchors the center.

 
"Investors are desperately seeking well-located grocery anchored shopping centers with credit tenants such as Publix and CVS," Joines said. "We don't expect the demand for these types of centers to wane any time soon."

The new owners enter a highly competitive trade area that already includes a Kroger a few blocks away. Publix plans to renovate the store at Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry and also plans to open at midyear a hybrid, 54,000-square-foot traditional grocery and Publix GreenWise at Sembler's Town Brookhaven development on Peachtree Industrial.

Grubb & Ellis has put the RetailWorks team back together. Michael Dahmer, principal of RetailWorks, joined Grubb & Ellis late last year as senior vice president in Grubb's Retail Group, and, with loose ends tied up, Michael Woodruff,  former RetailWorks' senior associate, and Kellie Scrogum, associate, will now hang their shingle at Grubb & Ellis as well.

 
Grubb didn't stop at retail, though. The company also has added Sean Moynihan as senior vice president, Office Group. Moynihan joins Grubb & Ellis from Newmark Knight Frank where he was managing director.

CoreNet Global's Atlanta chapter joined Junior Achievement of Georgia last week at Ronald McNair Learning Academy in Decatur. The CoreNet crew shared their experiences, observations on leadership and information on careers with McNair students and used the Junior Achievement curriculum to teach the youngsters about business, economics and free enterprise.