One of Downtown Atlanta's most historic buildings has been saved from receivership—with a little help from a former president of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors and a well-known local investor.

10 Park Place, a 137k SF circa-1929 office building sandwiched between Edgewood Avenue and Marietta Street, just a block from Georgia State University, is now out of special servicing. Its former $9M CMBS loan was recast with Atlantic Bank for an undisclosed sum, according to Trepp. The new ownership structure is much the same as it has been since 1996, when Jim Cumming and Novare Group's Jim Borders bought the property. But now Joel & Granot's Alan Joel (former president of Atlanta's commercial board; below right with his partner, Danny Granot) has been tapped as the managing partner and a co-owner, as has Meltzer Properties' Dion Meltzer. Alan says it helped the case for repositioning the building that the group was able to draft a slew of new leases on the property, pushing occupancy from a low of 40% to above 90%, including an expansion of Grady Health Systems and two full floors for functions of the Fulton County government.

Some $3M in capital improvements is planned for the historic structure—formerly known as the Thornton Building and built by Albert E Thornton, one of Atlanta's historic families—as well, Alan says, especially since this area of Downtown is seeing a resurgence thanks to a burgeoning Georgia State University student population. "The retail is affected dramatically by Georgia State and we have a strong retail presence near the campus," Alan says. For Joel & Granot and Meltzer Properties, 10 Park Place is the latest in a string of repositioned properties. It most recently sold 1280 West Peachtree to Parkside Partners for a major redevelopment, and it was involved in the redo of 550 Pharr Road in Buckhead into a boutique office property.