A developer known for building posh hotels around the globe now wants to try its hands at Central Perimeter office. (Does that mean chocolates on the desks every morning and turn-down service?)
The John Hardy Group is mulling a project called 700 Abernathy, a 30k SF, boutique Class-A building just off GA 400 in Sandy Springs—if the firm can pre-lease enough of it to move forward. "We don't want to do a spec building," John Hardy says, adding that he is also courting potential co-investors in the project, where his firm will take a third of the space. John picked up the parcel from the FDIC three years ago and originally planned a hotel. But hotel fundamentals in Central Perimeter are tricky—there's great weekday business, but bookings dry up on the weekends, he says. (All of a sudden everyone is too busy to hang out.) Two Realty Partners' Jill Goldberg has been tapped to market the property.What's there now: a Sandy Springs mansion that has been targeted for office use for quite some time. And developing an office building—designed by Cooper Carry—would be quite a change for John Hardy, given the firm is known for developing luxury hotels, including NYC's The New York Palace and Hotel Novotel in Times Square. John says the firm is currently working on the 1,200-room Marriott Marquis in DC.
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