Shumacher Group Leader Leaving For Corporate CRE Job: The Atlanta Deal Sheet
Peter Kruskamp has been corralled away from the retail brokerage shop his father-in-law started.
Kruskamp is leaving as president of the Shumacher Group to head up real estate for the Golden Corral Buffet & Grill restaurant chain.
Kruskamp's wife, Stephanie Kruskamp, is taking over the day-to-day operation and ownership of the business. She is the daughter of the late Shumacher Group founder, Harold Shumacher.
In addition, Steven Josovitz was named president of the retail brokerage arm of the firm. The move will be effective Feb. 2.
The Shumacher Group is one of the more prominent retail brokerage firms in Atlanta, with a heavy focus on the metro area’s restaurant scene. The firm was founded and led by Shumacher until his death in 2020.
“One of the things that Harold told me even before he got sick … he said, ‘Peter I don’t want you to ever feel you have to continue the Shumacher Group.’ So he kind of gave me permission in the beginning to make my own decision about what I would do with my own future,” Kruskamp said. “The fact that we get to keep the company in the family is incredible.”
PERSONNEL
Lee & Associates promoted Matthew Reynolds, 29, to executive vice president and principal. He is among the youngest executive vice presidents and principals across the firm’s nationwide network. Reynolds was named a top director and principal in 2024.
Focused on the industrial market, Reynolds closed more than $130M and 2.3M SF in transactions in the past two years.
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Atlanta-based apartment giant Cortland named Brad Hamel executive vice president of community operations, tasked with overseeing the residential experience at Cortland’s more than 200 apartment communities.
Most recently, Hamel was the founding principal at The Blockhouse Group, a firm that advised apartment, property management and proptech companies on growth strategies.
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Atlanta-based cold storage operator Americold Realty Trust Inc. appointed Christopher Papa as its executive vice president and chief financial officer for the firm and its 1.4B cubic feet of refrigerated storage space.
Papa assumes the new role on Feb. 23.
He is replacing Jay Wells, who has departed the company, Americold announced in a press release. In the interim, Americold named Chief Investment Officer Scott Henderson to take over the CFO duties.
Papa currently serves as CFO of CenterPoint Properties.
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Erin Green has been promoted to operations manager for Patterson Real Estate Advisory Group, tasked with overseeing marketing, social media, IT, compliance, financial performance reporting and human resources. Green joined the firm in 2024 as a senior operations analyst.
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Gregg Metcalf, a veteran of the Atlanta office leasing market, has left JLL and joined Cushman & Wakefield as an executive director, partnering with brokers Ken Ashley and Sam Hollis, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
Metcalf spent 16 years at JLL.
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Transwestern Real Estate Services named Vanessa Manners as the Southeast marketing director out of Atlanta, tasked with developing and leading marketing strategies for the region. Manners most recently was marketing director for Impact Development Management.
SALES
The Milestone Group purchased Legends at Laurel Canyon, a 266-unit apartment complex in Canton, for $63.2M from an LLC tied to Macon-based United Residential Properties, according to records in the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority database.
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CenterPoint Properties purchased 3625 Buffington Center, a 208K SF distribution center in College Park, from developer Crow Holdings Capital for an undisclosed sum, according to a press release.
Bisnow could not find sales transaction data. Built in 2024, Buffington Center is leased to a packaging industry tenant on a longterm basis, according to CenterPoint.
FINANCING
U.S. Bank provided MDH Partners a $107M loan to support 2.2M SF of recent acquisitions of seven warehouses across the U.S., including Hartman Road Logistics Center, a 247K SF distribution center at 780 Hartman Road in Austell.
The financing gives MDH a three-year financing with two 12-month extensions. MDH purchased the Austell facility in October for $28.9M, according to records in the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority database.
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Black Salmon obtained a $30.1M floating-rate, five-year loan with Prime Finance to purchase the newly constructed Camp Creek Commerce Center at 5001 N. Commerce Drive in East Point. Black Salmon purchased the facility for $41M from an LLC attached to Hardie Real Estate Group, according to a press release.
Grady Health System is leasing 47K SF for a pharmaceutical storage and distribution operation in the facility.
JLL’s Melissa Rose, Bobby Norwood, Connor McCarthy and Streeter Simmons arranged the financing.
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Lone Star Funds obtained a $500M floating-rate CMBS refinancing for six high-end hotels in four states, including the 507-room The Whitley in Buckhead and the 368-room Westin Buckhead, Green Street reported.
JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs arranged the CMBS loan for Lone Star. Both Atlanta hotels account for $28.3M — or more than half of the properties’ underwritten net cash flow, according to Green Street.
DEVELOPMENT
CP Group unveiled plans this week to redevelop the wooded Buckhead office park Piedmont Center with a mix of retail and restaurants. The firm, which also is redeveloping the former CNN Center, plans to create at least six restaurant concepts and a collection of street-level upscale retail spaces along Piedmont Road with the help of architectural firms Smallwood and ASD|Sky.
Other planned projects include creating “hospitality-inspired lobbies” in Piedmont Center Buildings 14 and 15 and expanded fitness and conference facilities.
CP Group also will build out 42K SF of move-in ready spec suites.
The plan comes nearly eight months after CP Group acquired the 14-building, 2.2M SF Piedmont Center from foreclosure for $200M.
LEASING
Buckhead Investment Partners renewed and expanded its presence at Piedmont Center to 19,500 SF, and business management consulting firm ScottMadden Inc. renewed for 11K SF at the 2.2M SF office park in Buckhead.
Stream Realty Partners’ Bryan Heller, Preston Menning, Glenn Kolker, Parker Welton and Lauren Slappey represented the landlord, CP Group, in the transactions.
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Aluminum architectural products maker Kawneer inked a 29K SF lease at Continuum Alpharetta, a 515K SF office campus at 5555 Windward Parkway in Alpharetta. Alpharetta-based DataScan also signed a 23K SF lease in the project.
Stream Realty’s Heller, Welton and Slappey brokered the deals for the landlord, Southwest Value Partners. CBRE’s Craig Goldberg represented Kawneer, and JLL’s Ryanne Pennington and Brennan Koslow represented DataScan.
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Visitors to Pullman Yards will soon be able to gaze on Ted Bundy’s dental mold, Jeffrey Dahmer’s eyeglasses and signed court documents, and John Wayne Gacy’s typewriter. Serial Killer: The Exhibition signed a 27K SF lease for its immersive museum at the mixed-use destination, set to open Feb. 7.
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Amazon-owned autonomous robotaxi company Zoox has leased 121K SF at 1375 Seaboard Industrial Blvd., an industrial facility owned by Selig Enterprises Inc., according to a commercial alteration application filed with the city of Atlanta.
The $3M renovation is to prepare the warehouse space for Zoox’s fleet operations center.
Last year, Amazon announced that Zoox was launching a test fleet in Metro Atlanta.
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Recruitment firm Impellam Group is planning to occupy 11K SF at Phipps Tower in Buckhead, according to a commercial alteration application filed with the city of Atlanta.
The landlord, Manulife Investment Management, is seeking approval to prepare the space for Impellam for $94K, including selective demolition and the installation of new finishes.
Impellam currently lists its office at the 10-story Live Oak Square office building in Buckhead.
