This Week's Atlanta Deal Sheet: Local Tech Leaders Step In To Try To Save South Downtown
Two Atlanta technology industry powerhouses are rescuing South Downtown from a fire sale on the Fulton County Courthouse steps.
Atlanta Ventures, led by David Cummings and Jon Birdsong, have already purchased various parcels of the troubled South Downtown collection amassed by Newport RE over the past few years and have the rest of the portfolio under contract, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
Cummings and Birdsong plan to turn South Downtown into an extension of Atlanta Tech Village, the tech incubator in Buckhead they founded that helped grow such firms as SalesLoft and account marketing company Terminus, according to the ABC. The partners would lease the various buildings to local startups and restaurants with strong connections to nearby colleges and universities, Cummings told the paper. Cummings also said he plans to turn Broad Street into a pedestrian-friendly corridor that will allow people to travel between Five Points and Garnett MARTA stations.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Foundry Commercial Atlanta Market Leader Lawrence Gellerstedt brokered the deal.
Newport had been facing foreclosure on the 50-plus properties the firm planned to redevelop to breathe new life into a long-struggling portion of the city.
In October, BridgeInvest, Newport’s lender, moved to foreclose on 18 parcels of its portfolio, including the Hotel Row retail properties and 222 Mitchell St., which Newport had started turning into an office and retail project. Around the same time, a lender named Salzufer Holdings put a notice of foreclosure on an additional 18 parcels controlled by Newport including the retail buildings at 10 Peachtree St. connected to a $3.5M loan and seven retail buildings and two parking lots backed by a $4.7M loan.
Despite an opening date for the first phase of Mitchell Street set for early next year, Newport's investors decided to stop funding the project in early 2023, and construction delays mounted. A sale of the properties to Braden Fellman collapsed this fall, prompting the foreclosure notice.
SALES
Viking Capital paid $28.2M for Stewart’s Mill Apartments in Douglasville from FCP this month. FCP purchased the 188-unit property, located at 3421 Stewart Mill Road, in 2020 for $19.8M, according to Douglas County records.
Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Nathan Swenson, Managing Directors Wesley Kenney and Brooks Colquitt and Senior Associate Robert Yates brokered the transaction.
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Leaders Real Estate Group and an unnamed private investor purchased Reynolds Crossing, a 46K SF strip center in the shadow of a Kroger grocery store in Duluth, for $18.5M. The seller was not disclosed, but according to Gwinnett County property records, the previous owner was Camak Holdings LLC.
The center is fully occupied by tenants like The UPS Store, Chase, Little Caesars and Cricket Wireless, all with an average of five years left on their leases, according to a press release.
JLL Managing Director Brad Buchanan and Senior Managing Director Jim Hamilton and Marcus & Millichap Senior Vice President Justin Miller brokered the transaction.
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Publix Super Markets purchased Matt Town Center, an 81K SF retail center where the supermarket serves as the anchor, from Retail Planning Corp. for $30M. The center, at 5310 Matt Highway in Cumming, is also home to Great Clips, Domino’s, Sage Dental and Dunkin’ Donuts.
JLL Senior Managing Directors Jim Hamilton and Brad Buchanan and Vice President Andrew Kahn brokered the transaction.
ASSIGNMENTS
Rivian has tapped Clayco as the general contractor for the electric vehicle maker’s planned 1,800-acre manufacturing campus in Stanton Springs. The 16M SF EV plant is slated to cost $5B and is scheduled to be operational in 2026.
LEASES
CA South has leased 7,400 SF at Southern Post, a mixed-use project under development in Roswell and owned by Armada Hoffler. The project includes 90K SF of loft office space. The deal means CA South will relocate its headquarters out of The Battery in Cobb County, home of the Atlanta Braves.
Transwestern Senior Managing Directors Zach Wooten and Stephen Clifton represented Armada Hoffler.
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OneTrust leased 75K SF at New City Properties' Fourth Ward project off North Avenue and Ralph McGill Boulevard, Bisnow first reported. The tech company plans to vacate its 124K SF headquarters at Northpark Town Center in Sandy Springs in early 2025.
Savills Vice Chairman David Rubenstein represented OneTrust, and Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chair Aileen Almassy represented New City.
DEVELOPMENT
Gerresheimer, a German medical device manufacturer, announced Thursday plans to spend $88M to develop a second plant at Southpark International Industrial Park in Peachtree City by fall 2024. The plant will produce devices that auto-inject medicines, the company said.
Georgia Department of Economic Development Senior Regional Project Manager Fernanda Kirchner led the economic development talks for the state with Gerresheimer.
PERSONNEL
Thomas & Hutton promoted Chris Stovall to lead its senior environmental group for Georgia and Tennessee from the firm's Chamblee office. Stovall spent 25 years with Thomas & Hutton on water and sewer projects in Metro Atlanta.
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Peachtree Group named Sameer Nair as senior vice president of equity asset management for the investment firm, tasked with overseeing its real estate portfolio. Nair, a graduate of the Nolan Hotel School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, previously was senior vice president for Hospitality Ventures Management Group and has more than a decade of experience in the hospitality industry.
