Arby's Hungers For Headquarters With JLL

Two Atlanta-based JLL brokers have the meats.

Atlanta-based Arby's Restaurant Group selected brokerage giant JLL to conduct a headquarters search in the Metro Atlanta area, one that could be large enough to anchor a new office development. Officials with JLL confirmed that David Demarest and Brannan Moss have been tapped to lead the request for proposals.

Arby's has been conducting interviews with area brokerage firms, including CBRE, Savills Studley and Cushman & Wakefield, for a search of possibly up to 150k SF. Arby's could leave its current HQ at 1155 Perimeter Center West in the heart of Central Perimeter.

Details on the RFP were undisclosed as of press time, but sources said Arby's could eye anchoring a new office project, particularly in Central Perimeter. Central Perimeter's 21M SF of Class-A office space has tightened this past year to a 12.5% vacancy rate, according to Colliers International.

But there are numerous sites that could see a new office tower, including Crown Holding Group's former Gold Kist headquarters site, GID Development's High Street mixed-use project, Ackerman & Co.'s Abernathy 400 office project in a JV with Cousins Properties and Hines Interests' 100 Northpark project, which could include 1.5M SF of office.

It was not clear as of press time whether Arby's officials, who did not return calls seeking comment, were considering other Atlanta submarkets.

Arby's performance could make it a hot catch with Atlanta landlords. Arby's reported same-store sales growth of nearly 4% last year, which pushed total sales to $3.6B. Executives with the fast-food chain said it was still on track to reach $4B in systemwide sales by the end of 2018 as it opened 60 new restaurants in 2016.