Atlas Shouldering Long-Term Land Plays
Atlas Interests is hefting a Buckhead office building on its shoulders for a future redevelopment.
Atlanta-based Atlas just purchased the Buckhead Exchange Building, a 68k SF historic office building at 1708 Peachtree St, for $9.9M from a local owner. It's mostly filled with small firms. The deal was brokered by Highgate Partners' Beau Terrell, M3's David Jones, Jordan Co's Gary Algers and Cushman & Wakefield's Bruce Propst.
Buckhead Exchange, known for its sun-filled open atrium lobby, is part of an effort by Atlas to buy long-term land plays. We spoke with Atlas' Ty Underwood, who has been quietly buying distinctive properties around the metro area for a number of years, and plans to spend upwards of $50M this year. “We're just buying what I would consider core real estate with the intention for long-term hold or with some short-term value-add,” Ty says. “Right now we're just more interested in core-type land plays that happen to have cash flow.”
Case in point: Atlas recently acquired a small flex industrial building off Falcon Drive in Peachtree City. While the 20k SF facility won't win fanfare on design or have Fortune 500 companies salivating, Ty says its real benefit is the location. The facility sits on five acres that line the taxiway at Atlanta Regional Airport at Falcon Field.
