California Investor Takes Title On Atlanta's Resurgens Plaza
A California firm better known for owning and operating malls has taken over the deed and loan of a prominent Buckhead office tower in Atlanta.
Los Angeles-based Pacific Retail Capital Partners was granted a deed in lieu of foreclosure on the 27-story Resurgens Plaza, the 403K SF trophy office tower off East Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead.
An LLC tied to Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group handed Pacific Retail Capital Partners the keys to the property on Dec. 22, according to documents filed with the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority database.
In a tax document, the property’s value was listed as $77.4M.
With the move, Pacific Retail, which didn’t previously have any properties in Atlanta, assumes an overdue loan originally valued at $89.7M that was provided to Zeller in 2020 by Aareal Capital Corp., a division of German-based Aareal Bank.
That loan matured on Nov. 3, 2024, according to the property database Reonomy.
Alan Wexler, who heads the Atlanta property research firm Databank, said the $77.4M price tag on the tax document is likely the remaining balance of that original loan.
According to the documents, Aareal retains all rights associated with that original loan, including the right to pursue foreclosure on the property if needed.
Spokespeople with Aareal and Zeller declined to comment, as did Pacific Retail CEO Steve Plenge.
Pacific Retail says it directly manages 24M SF in assets. The company has several major retail properties, including the District Galleria in White Plains, New York, Broward Mall in South Florida and the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center in Kahului, Hawaii.
Although its portfolio is mainly focused on retail, the Buckhead office tower won’t be its first office property. It lists office properties such as 1015 15th St. in Washington, D.C., 1901 Harrison St. in Oakland, California, and 146 Geary St. in the Union Square area of San Francisco among its properties.
In August, Pacific Retail teamed up with Lyon Living and Silverpeak to buy the 2M SF Lakewood Center mall in Southern California, with plans to turn it into a mixed-use hub.
Zeller picked up the tower, which is situated directly above the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s Lenox station, in 2018 from Lone Star Funds, Bisnow previously reported. Lone Star transferred the property to Zeller that year for zero dollars, according to Fulton County property records.
According to a CoStar report obtained by Bisnow, Resurgens Plaza is 78% leased, with its three largest tenants — software provider Fullsteam, SouthState Bank and insurance firm RSUI — taking up between 23K SF and 26K SF each.
SouthState Bank signed an 87K SF lease at Prominence Tower in Buckhead at the end of 2024. It was unclear whether the bank continues to have operations at Resurgens.
In June 2025, Zeller unloaded the 65-story 311 S. Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago for $45M to New York-based Kohan Retail Investment Group. Zeller acquired that tower in a joint venture with China’s Cindat Capital Management in 2014 for $302M, according to CoStar.
In November, Aareal refinanced a $111M loan with famed Atlanta developer John Dewberry for his Peachtree Pointe property.
