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https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2023/07/26/newport-south-downtown-atlanta-sale.html

Newport RE is under contract with Braden Fellman Group, both sides confirmed to Atlanta Business Chronicle. Braden Fellman is a 42-year-old firm best known for converting factories, warehouses and other older properties into apartments. It owns 2,500 units in Atlanta with another 1,000 in the pipeline. It also has another 550 units in Charleston.

Terms of the agreement between Newport and Braden Fellman Group, including the value of the portfolio, were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The 53-building portfolio stretches across Peachtree, Forsyth, Mitchell and Broad streets just east of Mercedes-Benz stadium, an area called South Downtown. The portfolio also includes 6 acres of parking lots viewed as potential development sites.

Newport’s master plan was unveiled in 2016, the height of the last commercial real estate boom, a period of optimism for the rebirth of the old Downtown. It was meant to link billions in proposed projects and surrounding areas, from Underground Atlanta and Georgia State University to Castleberry Hill.

Under new ownership, plans for Hotel Row — a block of historic hotels being restored into restaurants and office space — will remain unchanged. Several tenants are in the design or build-out stages of their spaces, such as coffee shop Spiller Park and Southern restaurant Liz & Leon’s. One tenant, Thai restaurant TydeTate Kitchen, has opened.