Cousins Targeting West Peachtree Street Site For Next Midtown Office Gamble
Cousins is looking to grab the office momentum mojo from Technology Square and its NCR headquarters project on a new office site nearby in hot Midtown Atlanta.
Cousins is in talks to buy a development site at Eighth and West Peachtree streets in Midtown, nearly two blocks from Tech Square, Cousins CEO Larry Gellerstedt told stock analysts Thursday during a Q1 earnings call. Gellerstedt said Cousins could develop as much as 400K SF on the site.
The Midtown parcel is among a handful of sites Cousins is marketing for new developments, including a second office building at the haute Avalon mixed-use project in Alpharetta and a site in Tempe, Arizona, “on the front steps of Arizona State University,” Gellerstedt said.
“Our land bank, once developed, could include approximately 1.6M SF of Class-A office space,” he said. “I am pleased to report we have a solid pipeline of interest for each location, including existing customers and potential new prospects from a wide variety of industries. And with pre-development now underway, we anticipate that each site could be shovel-ready by the end of the year.”
Gellerstedt did not offer details on any specific potential tenants. As for Tempe, Gellerstedt said the developer is eyeing a 250K SF project that could also include a hotel or apartments.
Revelations of Cousins' Midtown plans follows the hints Cousins Senior Vice President Thad Ellis dropped at a recent Bisnow event when he said the firm was actively pursuing sites in Midtown to address office demand in the area.
Cousins is coming off a strong leasing quarter, with its portfolio at more than 90% leased, helped in part by deals with WestRock, Microsoft at 8000 Avalon and Amazon's deal at Terminus 200, Cousins President Colin Connolly said. He also said Cousins continues to talk to AIG about its lease of 105K SF of office space at NorthPark Town Center, which is expiring next year.
“Overall, the leasing pipeline across our Atlanta portfolio in Atlanta is as robust as it has been in quite some time,” Connolly said. “We have been pleased with the prospects of all sizes from a diverse set of industries, including technology, financial services, legal and other large corporate users.”
