Atlanta Jewish Federation Looking To Move To David Zalik's Sandy Springs Building
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta could move its headquarters to a Sandy Springs office building recently acquired by one of its wealthiest boosters.
The nonprofit is considering a move to to The Dupree building next year, leaving the home it owns and has occupied for 30 years at the Selig Center in Midtown, the Atlanta Jewish Times reported.
The organization is in talks with GreenSky founder David Zalik to lease an unspecified amount of space at the 138K SF mid-rise office building off Powers Ferry Road and sandwiched between Central Perimeter and Cumberland/Galleria, according to the AJT.
Zalik, along with his wife Helen, paid $12M for The Dupree earlier this year with plans to move his philanthropic efforts, including the Zalik Foundation and the Zalik Family Office, to the building, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
“The Zaliks are thrilled the Federation is considering joining us at The Dupree, where plans include the intention to develop a conference and meeting facility to support commercial, philanthropic and community programming,” a Zalik Foundation spokesperson told the AJT.
Forbes estimates Zalik's net worth is $2B after he sold his home improvement lending business to Goldman Sachs in a $2.2B all-stock transaction. He is now a partner at the investment bank.
He envisions transforming The Dupree into the “vibrant center of Jewish life and activity in Sandy Springs,” according to a project overview sent to potential Jewish tenants and obtained by the AJT.
The project would feature both coworking space and dedicated office space for local and national nonprofit and pro-Israel organizations with “rental rates and tenant amenities offered at a discount to, or otherwise unavailable, in the commercial marketplace.”
Zalik also suggested he could donate it to the federation down the line, the AJT reported. He spoke of his support for the organization last year at an event to launch J-Tech, an affinity group for Jews working in the technology sector, according to a post on the nonprofit's website.
“The Atlanta Jewish Federation has been the community leader, community organizer, community connector for our Jewish community,” Zalik said at the event, according to the federation. “We are passionate about what Atlanta Jewish Federation provides as the central nervous system and the heart and soul of this Jewish community.”
The potential move to Sandy Springs, though, leaves question as to the fate of 46K SF Selig Center, a building donated to the organization by Selig Enterprises Chairman Steve Selig in 1994. The building also is home to the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
The Selig building and the 3 acres it sits upon were valued at $7M by Fulton County in 2024, but it could fetch multiples of that if put on the market for sale, said Alan Wexler, the founder of the real estate database company Databank. With recent Midtown prices in the area ranging from $200-$300 per SF of land, the Jewish Federation could fetch a price tag in excess of $30M, Wexler said.
For its part, the Jewish Federation was mum about the fate of the Selig Center after the move.
“There have been absolutely no decisions made around what will happen with our existing building, nor do we expect any such decisions in the immediate future,” the Federation told the AJT.
