Upstarts Readying Loft Office Project In Chamblee

Another area developer is taking a shot at loft office in the quickly gentrifying Chamblee submarket. Perimeter Commercial Real Estate's Aaron Karasik (here)—along with partners Robert Pond and Ryan Black—is under contract to purchase the former Whaley Machine Co facility at 5553 Peachtree Rd in Chamblee, a vacant 28k SF warehouse that is about to get a huge makeover as a loft office project. “We're big believers in the Chamblee market,” Robert says. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the project could deliver late next year.

Perimeter's team isn't the only believer in the area. In many ways Chamblee's resurgence is a spillover from Brookhaven's rapid redevelopment. Other developers are moving forward on big mixed-use projects in the area along Peachtree Road, including Cock-Finkelstein's The Olmstead project and Parkview on Peachtree, the transit-oriented development by Spruce Street Partners and Terwilliger Pappas (above). And MARTA has tapped a handful of developers—including Parkside Partners—to redevelop the transit organization's Chamblee station.

What is missing in Chamblee is true Class-A boutique loft office, Aaron says, especially given the overall dearth of office space in Brookhaven and Chamblee. While Chamblee has been a submarket off the radar for many years, resurgence in the area is being helped by its access to MARTA and surrounding affordable housing, he adds. The group plans to market spaces as small as 3,500 SF on up to the entire building for a single tenant, and while the project's final name has yet to be solidified, Aaron says Whaley will be incorporated.