Katharine Kelley is leaving Jamestown Properties after seven years to restart Green Street Properties. (She's also a Bisnow Atlanta Power Woman.) We checked in with the legendary developer that helped lead a Beltline revival for more details.
Yesterday, we chatted with Jamestown's Matt Bronfman about Katharine's departure. He characterized the move as amicable, and says Jamestown will continue to possibly JV with Katharine (above) in the future. Freeing Green Street from Jamestown also allows her to pursue more project opportunities.
Does that mean Jamestown is done with the development business? Short answer, no. Ponce is ongoing, and Jamestown recently took on two adaptive re-use projects (in Boston, the Innovation and Design Building; in Brooklyn, Industry City, pictured). Matt tells us the company’s primary focus remains income-producing assets, such as the portfolio of South Florida Publix-anchored centers the firm recently purchased, adding that Jamestown has roughly $500M in its funds to invest. “We're never going to pursue run-of-the-mill things. We're looking for the needle in the rough."
Ponce City Market was one of those needles. And it was purchased at a time when CRE prices—particularly for chancy redevelopment parcels—were depressed. Today, that story is much different with plenty of capital out there chasing deals, running up prices. One opportunity that apparently isn't for Jamestown is Underground Atlanta. Despite the rosy relationship built with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed during the Ponce project, Matt says Jamestown is not chasing the iconic property. “We're currently pursuing opportunities in Atlanta, but we haven't found one that's a fit for us,” he says. Matt says the potential buyer of Underground is likely getting aggressive on pricing—a reason Mayor Reed sees an opportunity to put Underground up for sale now.
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