Real Estate Notes
Developer hits mixed-use note in Cumming
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Douglas Sams
A Roswell developer plans a mixed-use project, including office and retail space, a hotel and apartments, in Cumming.
Songbird Development LLC filed a proposal Nov. 21 with state planners to develop University Summit at Pilgrim Mill.
Plans call for 622 apartment, condominium, single-family and townhouse units, as well as a 120-room hotel, 165,000 square feet of class A office space, and 131,000 square feet of retail space, said Scott Morgan, director of the city of Cumming’s planning and zoning department.
University Summit at Pilgrim Mill is planned on 77 acres fronting Pilgrim Mill Road near Parkside at Pilgrim Mill in Cumming, he said. The Parkside subdivision is directly across the street from the proposed project, he added.
University Summit at Pilgrim Mill is the third in a string of big developments announced for Forsyth County this year.
A Las Vegas developer is proposing a 121-acre residential and commercial project next to what is slated to become suburban Atlanta’s northernmost regional mall.
Diversified Asset Planning LLC plans 586 residential units and 687,800 square feet of commercial development, including a hotel, at McFarland Road and the Ronald Reagan Boulevard extension.
That project is adjacent to a 164-acre site that Detroit-based Taubman Centers Inc. wants to develop during the next few years into a mix of upscale housing, hotels and restaurants anchored by the area’s first regional luxury mall.
New direction
Jim Ledbetter, who helped build Insignia Financial Group and most recently led Transwestern Commercial Services’ Atlanta office, has left the firm.
Ledbetter, known for his abilities as a dealmaker, plans to stay in commercial real estate. Transwestern’s Atlanta office will be led by Bruce Ford, who moved over from GVA Advantis earlier this year after serving as its regional president.
Ledbetter was a founding member of Insignia when CB Richard Ellis Inc. acquired the firm in 2003. At the time, Insignia had assembled a prominent team that included CB Richard Ellis’ John Shlesinger, Sam Holmes and Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Brett Hunsaker.
“I have the utmost respect for Jim,” Shlesinger said. “He was an integral component of our success at Insignia and is a big loss for Transwestern. His deep knowledge of the ownership and development side of the business combined with his understanding of brokerage and contacts will make him a valuable addition for someone.”
Going gold
Terminus 200, Cousins Properties Inc.’s new Buckhead office tower, will seek Gold designation according to the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Terminus 200 is a 25-story, 565,000-square-foot skyscraper within the 10-acre Terminus mixed-use development at Peachtree and Piedmont roads. Terminus 200 is being developed by a joint venture of Cousins and Prudential Real Estate Investors.
The Council, through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, emphasizes design and construction practices that limit the effect on the environment, including energy conservation. Terminus 200 will include a high percentage of natural daylight, lowering electricity usage and improving occupant productivity; restrooms that reduce water consumption by 40 percent; and a special filtration system that reduces emissions and improves air quality.
Continued slowdown in ’09
Demand for Atlanta office space will falter in 2009, according to a new report from real estate services firm Newmark Knight Frank.
Metro Atlanta’s employment growth was solid during the past three years. However, office vacancy rates still hovered around 15 percent. With construction finally slowing, the inventory of office space will increase by less than 1 percent during the next two years, though demand in 2009 will falter.
Office rents will fall from $23.28 per square foot this year to $21.88 in 2009, the report says. Vacancy rates, now at 16 percent, will climb to nearly 18 percent next year.
Most U.S. markets will be in better position to withstand the commercial real estate slowdown because development has been restrained, according to the report.
Accolades for bowers
Richard Bowers, president of Richard Bowers & Co., recently received the 2008 J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University Alumni Award for Service to Robinson College. Bowers was honored before alumni, university officials, and others during the Robinson College Sixth Annual Awards Celebration at the Mansion on Peachtree in Atlanta. Bowers earned a master’s of business administration in real estate from GSU’s Robinson College in 1974.
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