Puritan Mill Developer Eyes New Adaptive Reuse In Southwest Atlanta

One of the pioneers of Atlanta's adaptive reuse movement is up to its old tricks again, seeking to transform two old brick industrial buildings near the Oakland City neighborhood into offices and apartments.

Atlanta-based Urban Realty Partners filed a special application permit with the city of Atlanta to start work on 1100 Murphy Ave., the former home of shipping supplier Cut Rate Box Co.

The firm plans to transform one of the buildings into a three-story creative office space and the other into five stories of apartments, according to the permit filing. Along with a new 12K SF rooftop deck, the project, which lies along a spur to the Atlanta BeltLine Westside Trail, would span more than 128K SF.

Urban Realty was among the pioneers of adaptive reuse in Metro Atlanta with its Puritan Mill project, a redevelopment of a historic former manufacturing complex last occupied by Puritan Chemical Co. on Atlanta's Westside. Urban Realty began converting the single-story buildings into 82K SF of creative office space and a 12K SF events facility known as The Foundry after its purchase in 2000. Located off Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard near its intersection with West Marietta Street, Puritan Mill is across from King Plow Arts Center, the city's first historic mixed-use project.

The developer and its capital partner, Origin Investments, sold Puritan Mill in October to Crestlight Capital and J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives, which paid $114M for it and three other adaptive reuse projects owned by other developers, including Inland Tract, Complex and Ellsworth.

“Cut Rate is essentially Puritan Mill on a bigger scale 20 years later in a similar neighborhood,” Urban Realty Partners Managing Partner Mark Riley said.

When Urban Realty delivered Puritan Mill in 2002, adaptive reuse offices weren't as easy of a sell to potential tenants, Riley said. It took time to lease up the property, especially with the economy recovering from the dot-com bust. 

“We had some sleepless nights,” Riley said.

Urban Realty has built a number of urban developments and adaptive reuse projects across the country since Puritan Mill, including Glencastle, the transformation of the historic Atlanta jail into the 85K SF creative office project, and The Heritage, a former Masonic Temple and former home of Oklahoma City newspaper The Journal Record that is being revitalized as a creative office project. 

While Riley likens 1100 Murphy's location — sandwiched between the  Adair Park and Capitol View neighborhoods — to what Puritan Mill's neighborhood of Knight Park/Howell Station was like when that project was first delivered, demand today among companies for adaptive reuse office space has helped spark a redevelopment renaissance in many of the city's neighborhoods, especially along the Atlanta BeltLine, the 22-mile pedestrian path that has become Atlanta's answer to the High Line in New York.  

"A certain subset of tenants has always loved the vibe and lower cost of adaptive reuse," Urban Realty Development partner Sean Donahue told Bisnow in an email. "As employee wellness and creativity has become more important to employers, there really aren’t limits to the industries that would consider adaptive reuse for their office."

Bisnow is hosting an adaptive reuse and conversions event Tuesday at the East Point Exchange project.

Over the past two decades, adaptive reuse projects such as Westside Provisions, Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market have been some of the region's real estate trendsetters. Developers continue to push out more such projects, including Selig Enterprises' The Works in the Upper Westside and Ackerman & Co.'s Lee + White redevelopment on Atlanta's West End.

"There’s also Tyler Perry Studios and the potential for the rest of Fort McPherson. But proximity to MARTA, easy access to the airport, and a quick commute to Downtown have always been there for the southwest Atlanta neighborhoods that surround our project," Donahue said.

Adaptive reuse developers have capitalized on surging interest from companies that want workers to see their offices as cool and trendy, and a building with a backstory can better attract younger workers, Carter Hill Advisors Senior Advisor Renee Rosenheck said.

“It's a more creative vibe than being in a cookie-cutter office,” Rosenheck said. “Especially if [companies] want to attract a younger demographic. The challenge with mainstream companies looking at it is the amount of space is limited.”

Riley said he expects there to be solid demand for both office and apartments at the $65M 1100 Murphy project, although its plans for the property have shifted over the past year. When the developer first proposed the redevelopment, both buildings were slated to be office.

The pandemic has cast doubt on the depth of future office demand, and Urban Realty pivoted to apartments, What Now Atlanta previously reported. This third iteration of 1100 Murphy blends together both elements.

“My sense is that yes, we'll see more demand because there's more interest by more tenants in that sort of space,” Riley said. “You just have to look at who is going into places like Ponce City Market. You're seeing a lot of different types of tenants take a look at it.”

Riley said Urban Realty plans to start construction in the fall, with delivery in 2024.