Piedmont Taps JLL To Lease Galleria

JLL is being tapped to lease the remaining prime office space across a five-tower trophy campus in Cobb County.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust hired JLL Executive Managing Directors Adam Viente and Jeff Bellamy as well as Vice President Claire Ross to lease Galleria, a five-building, 2.1M SF office complex in the Cumberland submarket.

The move comes a year after Piedmont completed its acquisition of the Galleria Office Park with the final two buildings, Galleria 400 and 600, propelling the firm to be one of the largest landlords in the submarket. JLL is marketing nearly 300K SF of available space at Galleria, including the 100K SF block at the top of Galleria 600, according to CoStar data.

Since its acquisitions, which began with Galleria 200 in 2015, Piedmont has pumped $10M into common area upgrades at the complex, including a new coffee and pastry shop at Galleria 200, a new 9K SF fitness club at Galleria 300, lobby upgrades and outdoor working areas. The complex, at the nexus of interstates 75 and 285, is within walking distance to The Battery at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.

During a recent earnings call, Piedmont CEO Brent Smith said the firm sees leasing opportunities among companies shifting their focuses from downtown urban office settings to suburban complexes that still hold features found in the city and appealing to a millennial workforce — namely walkable environments.

“The first millennials are really now reaching 40, and that is driving a suburban push,” Smith said. “So they are experienced and used to this urban core and they want to replicate that experience in the suburbs, drive to their office and be able to accomplish a lot more within their day than they just do going into the office, whether it be kind of everyday errands, meeting someone for lunch or a nice dinner in the evening or an activity with friends at the ballpark.”