YESTERDAY'S BIG ATLANTA SCHMOOZE

Thank you, Atlanta, for your hospitality. It was wonderful to get more acquainted at our first ATL event. If you have suggestions for future topics and panelists, feel free to ping Michael@Bisnow.com.

Yesterday morning, we were honored to host a Bisnow Breakfast & Schmooze on the State of the Atlanta Market at the Buckhead Ritz. There's a high probability you were there (we counted 600 seasoned RE pros), but we'll recap it just in case.

Nothing like four of Atlanta's top real estate figures to draw a crowd. And some good news to keep them there: We're inching our way to new deals and activity. Or maybe you're not chasing deals, and that's why you had the time to come.

CEO of Southeast giant Cousins Properties Larry Gellerstedt, center, says he's encouraged by the Atlanta market but recovery remains ?fragile and muted?; Hines Southeast leasing chief John Heagy, second from left, called it ?fragile but not broken.? CBRE vice chairman John Shlesinger (far right) said brokers now need to know more than how to find clients and negotiate; they need to know the financing of individual buildings so they can figure out what landlords need to do a deal. Rounding out the panel: Piedmont Realty CEO Don Miller (his REIT has a $4.5 billion market cap) and Reznick Group Atlanta chief Wes Hudson (left), who moderated.

?This is an economy where one building can be a market,? John told the crowd. Larry added: ?Investors have voted pretty strongly about de-levering and that I think affects every aspect of our economy.? He said that last summer, as it was working through its regular three-year projections, Cousins decided it was too highly levered at 70%. It took two and a half weeks from the time it made the decision to do an equity offering of $330M, to the time that Cousins was below 40%, Larry said.

We of course had our camera on hand during the pre-event coffee, so here's a quick game: match the summer activity to the person in this pic. 1) just got back from a wedding in Kentucky 2) wants to go to Europe 3) has a four-month-old baby at home, or 4) is often seen headed to the pool with his 8-year-old daughter. Here are your people options from left, a) HOK's Todd Bertsch, b) CBRE's Stacy Abbate, c) HOK's Elizabeth Van Derbeck or d) Walter P Moore's Douglas Robinson. Answers: 1=D; 2=B; 3=C; 4=A

Here's Habif, Arogetti & Wynne partner Alan Vaughn, Piedmont (a landscaping company, not to be confused with Piedmont REIT) VP Ryan Cameron, and Developers Diversified Realty's regional leasing manager Stuart Shapiro. Speaking of REITs, DDR (which owns and manages approximately 640 retail operating and development properties totaling 140M SF) recently jumped on the social media bandwagon—it's called ShopStar and uses Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with consumers.

We couldn't do these events without the help of our strategic sponsor in Atlanta, Reznick Group, which we've also come to know well in cities like DC, NYC, and Chicago. No wonder, it's the largest accounting firm in the US with a principal specialty in commercial real estate. Some of their 1,200 employees (the other 1194 were at the buffet): Rob Sternthal, Hampton Mallis, Kristy Koger, Manisha Verma, Wes Hudson, and Bruce Van Vreede.

We started with just a couple of sponsor Perkins + Will folks for this photo, but then decided to do the job right—so this is everyone we could lay our hands: Paula Vaughan, Barbara Kovar, Christopher Sciarrone, Willard Lariscy III, Joyce Fownes, Kristi Farley,Kimberly Rousseau, Ryan Gravel, and Heather Alhadeff. Although the architect/design firm has been around since 1935, it's likely best known at the moment as lead designer of the 22-mile Atlanta Beltline Corridor.

Gentlemen. Gentlemen. See all that morning energy just oozing through the photo? That would be the ULI Atlanta contingent that welcomed us to our own event, including Reznick Group's Wes Hudson again, right. (He serves as treasurer for ULI, and he's wearing his lucky moderator tie). Wes is with Talisman Partner?s Scott Johnston, middle (doing ULI service as the Atlanta program committee chair), and Schroder Public Relations? Chris Schroder(who does ULI PR).

Two of CBRE's asset services leasing specialists: Greg Frankum and Jackie Fraker, sponsors whose support maintained continuous supply of coffee, which turned out to be more of a necessity than a luxury. They're currently marketing a two-building complex in the North Fulton submarket, Windward Fairways, to tenants looking for well-priced Class A office space with beautiful views.

YESTERDAY'S BIG ATLANTA SCHMOOZE

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