News
4 SIGNS OF LIFE FOR ATL
May 10, 2012
| We found four indicators at a recent panel series (put on by Hines Interests) that show the metro region is alive and kickin'. Consider these your CRE EKG. | ||
| 1. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! | ||
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| Metrostudy's director for the Atlanta region Eugene James (center here with Atlantic Captial Bank and GRTA's chairman Walter ?Sonny? Deriso and Hines Interests' John Heagy) highlighted the state's labor department revision that shows Atlanta actually gained 30,000 new jobs last year (with strong increases so far this year) as evidence that Atlanta was not the worst job creator in the nation. Eugene says the bad job news last year before the labor department revisions (based on a very tiny sampling of Georgia businesses) most likely chilled consumer and corporate spending here. ?You take that attitude and you magnify it a million times over and you have an economy that has been moving at a much slower pace than perhaps it would have been had we known the true numbers up front.? | ||
| 2. NOBLE'S $200M BUYING SPREE | ||
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| Last week, Hines featured Noble Investments' Mit Shah, who says his hotel investment company is going on a buying spree in the next two years. With some $200M to invest, Mit told the crowd at Atlanta Financial Center that Noble will buy limited service and select full-service hotels under the Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt banners. (Which is much better than spending that $200M on diamonds or Gucci purses.) And after building up a big portfolio, Noble will then sell many of those hotels. ?Our goal moving forward is to create a very large portfolio of homogenous brands… and look to be a net seller in the next three to five years,? he says. With $75B in hospitality debt coming due in the next couple of years nationally, Mit sees opportunities to grab more hotels. | ||
| 3. MAKE YOUR MISTAKES NOW, NOT LATER | ||
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| HRworks founder and president Kurt Ronn (right) says companies that survive and thrive not only decide on action fast, but act on those decisions. ?When we see deals fail… almost to an individual, when you talk to the CEO of the company, or the new CEO … they didn't act fast enough,? he says. Kurt told company leaders to make the tough decisions to tranform your company now while the economy still struggles. ?You can make a mistake when it's the downturn, and people will say it's the downturn. You can make a mistake on the upturn, and people will blame you.? (Wear your swimmies now, not when you're in the Olympics.) | ||
| 4. ACKERMAN'S BIG RENEWALS | ||
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| We also spoke with Ackerman & Co's Frank Farrell, who tells us he just helped renew and expand Shorter College into more than 32k SF that very day at Phoenix Office Park. NAI Brannen Goddard's Chad Koenig repped the school. Frank also renewed Peachtree Orthopedic into 18,500 SF at Phoenix Summit, with CBRE's John Dolan representing the physicians group. | ||
