| More than $15M in federal tax credits are helping to fund Jamestown's $27M purchase of the former City Hall East building in Midtown. The sale, which finally closed today, was held up as Jamestown and the City of Atlanta bartered with the National Parks Administration over historic preservation tax credits. Now David Bennet, an advisor to Mayor Kasim Reed, tells us Jamestown and the feds reached an agreement to achieve those tax credits, including creating a ?more pedestrian? atmosphere in front of the building, breaking up the brick facade on the first couple of floors, and other changes to the original plan. David was on hand for today's press conference on the roof of what's now being called Ponce City Market as the mayor gave Jamestown's Matt Bronfman the keys to the former Sears warehouse. Jamestown purchased the project through its Jamestown Coinvest V fund, a $430M opportunity fund that also owns the Madison in DC. Jamestown likens its Chelsea Market in NYC to this project. | |
| Here's another feature that will change—the former ?exhibit hall.? Jamestown originally planned to tear it down and expand a central courtyard. But David says the federal government instead asked them to preserve the structure, with the exception of tearing off the roof and opening it up. Officials at the event say an urban organic garden will be grown inside the structure and the produce sold to local restaurants. Matt told the audience that the parking deck will also be razed within the next six months. | |
| We also chatted with Green Street Properties' Jim Irwin, Cushman & Wakefield's Mike Elting, and The Morsberger Group's Emory Morsberger. Mike's company is leasing the space for the developers, which will include 300k SF of national and local retailers and another 300k to 500k SF of office, and a ?few hundred units? of multifamily. Mike says despite the amount of office space available in Atlanta, there's a lot of specialized users for which traditional office space isn't always the answer. Matt also says there's a ?dearth? of quality loft office space, which will be how Ponce City Market will compete against the gleaming spires of Class-A space in Midtown. The developers plan to invest $180M to redevelop the project, beginning with gutting the interiors, with the first phase's delivery by Q1 2014. No tenant announcements were made, but officials say they are in LOI talks with restaurant operators and retailers. Stay tuned. |
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