This Week's Atlanta Deal Sheet: Harry Norman Splits Buckhead Office
One of Atlanta’s largest residential brokerage firms is seeking to divide and conquer with a pair of Buckhead office leases.
After 18 years in one 20K SF office at 532 East Paces Ferry Road in the Buckhead Village, Harry Norman Realtors is splitting its 200-strong workforce into a corporate office division and a brokerage division.
The corporate office is moving to 10K SF at Piedmont Center Building 5, while Harry Norman leased 9,200 SF for its Buckhead brokerage operations at 2827 Peachtree Road, a 130K SF boutique office building dubbed Garden Hills that is finishing up construction next month.
Developers Brand Properties, Highwoods Properties and Batson-Cook Co. teamed up last year to develop the project and have since largely pre-leased the space. Aside from Harry Norman, other deals at Garden Hills include Brand Properties’ new office, Georgia Banking Co. — which includes a retail branch and second-floor office — law firm James Bates Bannon Groover and Arkadios Capital.
Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director John Winter and Office Tenant Representative Lead Molly Millard represented Harry Norman in both deals.
LEASES
Bull Realty has renewed 15.7K SF at 50 Glenlake, a 143K SF office building in Central Perimeter. The deal was fronted by Michael Bull, founder and namesake of the firm, who also hosts the podcast America’s Commercial Real Estate Show. Lincoln Property Company Southeast Vice Presidents Seabie Hickson and Matt Fergus and Executive Vice President Michael Howell represented the landlord, B Group Capital Management.
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Local office suites operator Atlanta Office Suites is expanding to Doraville. The firm inked a 13K SF lease in an office building at Pinetree Plaza shopping center at 5269 Buford Highway, owned by Halpern Enterprises Inc. This makes the third location for Atlanta Office Suites, which is owned by Keith Cristal, after Marietta and College Park.
PERSONNEL
C.J. Kelly has joined JLL Atlanta as a managing director in its capital markets division. Kelly joins JLL from CBRE, where he founded the firm’s debt and structured finance group in Atlanta, closing more than $4B in debt and joint venture assignments during his time there. He previously worked for NorthStar Realty Finance, Shorenstein Properties and Eastdil Secured in New York City.
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KB Yabuku has jumped to Colliers Atlanta’s office tenant representation team, focusing on helping companies find office space throughout the Southeast. Yabuku is transitioning from his previous role as a senior-level consultant with Colliers' occupier services group.
A veteran of Atlanta’s CRE industry, Yabuku previously was vice president for investment sales at Ackerman & Co. and an associate director for the Stan Johnson Co.
SALES
New York-based ShopOne Centers REIT, along with asset management firm Pantheon, purchased Sharon Greens, a 98K SF Kroger-anchored shopping center from Site Centers in Cumming for $17.5M. The center is home to Chase Bank, Pet Supplies Plus, Heartland Dental Care and Papa John’s and is fully leased.
The sale was brokered by Atlantic Capital Partners. Site sold the center for a slight discount after acquiring Sharon Greens in 2007 for $17.8M, according to Forsyth County property records.
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Atlanta Property Group purchased 1900 West Oak, a 50K SF flex industrial building in Marietta. The seller and price weren't disclosed, but the last registered owner was an LLC called 1900 West Oak, which purchased the property in 2012 for $2.4M, according to Cobb County property tax information. In 2023, the county appraised the facility’s value at $2.9M.