This Week's Atlanta Deal Sheet: Feds May Put For-Sale Sign On Downtown Tower
More than 2,200 federal employees are likely to be transferred from a prominent Downtown Atlanta office tower to another federal facility nearby and their former home put on the market.
The Public Buildings Reform Board recommended this week that the General Services Administration empty out and sell the Peachtree Summit Federal Building, a 29-story, 855K SF tower at 401 West Peachtree St.
The GSA determined that the building is underutilized, with more than 240K SF vacant. Federal agencies that occupy the building include the Internal Revenue Service; the Social Security Administration; the Department of Agriculture; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to the GSA database.
By shifting employees to the 1.5M SF Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center nearby, the PBRB projects it would ultimately cut more than $700M in federal spending, including $500M needed to fully modernize the skyscraper.
“Approaching 50 years in service, the building requires over $255 million in repairs and upgrades, including HVAC system upgrades, window replacement, electrical wiring upgrades, and renovations to the public areas throughout the building,” PBRB said in the report.
Peachtree Summit is among a host of buildings throughout the U.S. that the PBRB is recommending the government sell, projecting they would save $5.4B over 30 years and potentially generate $346M in sale proceeds.
DEVELOPMENT
An LLC under the name 495 North Ave is applying to construct a seven-story apartment building at that location, where a single-family home once stood. The Elenwood-based real estate company is seeking to build a 50-unit mid-rise apartment atop a two-story parking podium with 35 spaces. The project will also include a green roof and rooftop amenities and be geared to affordable renters.
The 82K SF structure is projected to cost $9.4M, according to the application.
LEASES
A former Atlanta concert hall is getting new life at Underground Atlanta.
Ravine inked a 181K SF lease with Lalani Ventures — owner of Underground Atlanta — for a concert venue at the Downtown Atlanta landmark. The facility will include indoor and outdoor event spaces and two stages, one accommodating 2,500 people and the other 6,000, according to a press release.
The original Ravine opened in 2018 at 1021 Peachtree St. but shuttered in 2021. Details of the lease were not disclosed.
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Dollar Tree leased 11K SF at Spalding Square, a 75K SF shopping center off Zebulon Road in Griffin. Details of the lease were undisclosed, but the store is set to open this summer in the Halpern Enterprises-owned center.
Franklin Street’s Maggie Coppage and Sterling Hale represented Dollar Tree.
SALES
CenterPoint Properties purchased 4795 Innovation Way, a 347K SF distribution center in Powder Springs. The price and seller were undisclosed in the press release. The previous owner, an LLC registered to Alpharetta-based Native Development Group, purchased the facility in 2021 for $4.9M, according to Cobb County property records.
The site is fully leased and offers enough acreage to park 77 trailers.
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The Midtown Improvement District purchased the former Opus Place site in Midtown for $46M from Benmark Capital and Peachtree Group, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. The 4-acre site at 98 14th St. was once where Olympia Heights Management planned to build the Southeast’s tallest condominium tower. Olympia Heights lost the property to foreclosure in 2023.
Now the site is slated to become a public park.
The improvement district, a self-taxing district created by commercial property owners, used a 20-year tax-exempt general obligation bond with a 4.08% interest rate from SouthState Bank, the ABC reported.
PERSONNEL
Former Jamestown acquisitions executive Ansley Nixon has been named executive vice president of capital markets for Coro Realty. The 20-year capital markets veteran has done more than $8B in transactions in a variety of asset classes.
Coro also hired Garret Brouwer as vice president of acquisitions and general counsel from Post Brothers, where he co-led legal efforts on more than $1B in financing, construction and acquisition deals.
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Hilton Hotels & Resorts has named Scott Ward as the general manager of the towering Signia by Hilton Atlanta convention center hotel. The 30-year hospitality veteran most recently served as complex general manager for the Hilton Tampa Downtown and Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center.
Hilton opened the 976-room hotel, owned by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and on its Downtown campus, last year.
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The city of Norcross named David Versel as its new economic development director. Versel previously ran his own economic development consulting firm and is a former chief operating officer for Atlanta-based Jacoby Group, according to his LinkedIn biography.
