Prominence, 200 Galleria Testing Investor Appetite
Nearly two years after shelving plans for twin apartment towers next to a high-profile Buckhead office tower, the owners have put the whole kit and caboodle on the market.
Florida-based Crocker Partners has listed Prominence in Buckhead, the 425k SF tower off Piedmont Road next to Piedmont Center, for sale. Crocker is including a six-plus-acre parcel next to the tower on which the firm had sought to develop twin apartment towers back in 2013.
Crocker pulled back from those plans a year later. CBRE's Will Yowell, Jay O'Meara and Justin Parsonnet (here) have been tapped to sell the tower and property in a deal that could see it trade for somewhere north of $300 per SF, experts say. Crocker purchased the property in 2012 from a consortium that involved TIAA-CREF, Blackstone and Equity Office for $100M, or some $235 per SF.
Prominence (here) isn't the only prominent office building being marketed by CBRE. After snagging a coup with RaceTrac Petroleum's 115k SF HQ lease, Dallas-based Lone Star Funds has put 200 Galleria on the market as well.
The 438,300 SF tower in the Cumberland/Galleria submarket is taking advantage of surging investor interest in the Atlanta market, where a lack of new office development and strong job growth are having landlords celebrate a period of increasing rents. Sources say 200 Galleria could trade as early as Q2.
For both Prominence and 200 Galleria (here), the deals were value-add plays when their respective owners bought the assets. Today, they're more considered core investments, which could see institutional investors like pension funds or insurance companies in the mix of potential buyers.
Still, at least with Prominence, there's a huge value-add play in the raw developable land—a rarity anymore in the highly valued Buckhead submarket. CBRE also is marketing other big deals, including Sanctuary Park in Alpharetta and 250 E Ponce de Leon, the 134k SF office building in Downtown Decatur that's home to Well Fargo Insurance.
