ATLANTA | Development Thread VI - Page 489

Atlanta3000 · #**9761** Posted **Sep 6, 2018, 10:10 PM**

Interesting Timing.....

Archdiocese's Prominent Midtown Parcel Under Contract
Jarred Schenke, Bisnow Atlanta

Want to get a jump-start on upcoming deals? Meet the major Atlanta players at one of our upcoming events!

A prime Midtown Atlanta parcel owned in part by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta is under contract to undisclosed buyers.
Ponce & 3rd site

Location of the Archdiocese-owned Midtown site that has been recently marketed for sale

The 4.1-acre site called Ponce and 3rd — formerly home to the Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School — is slated to be sold to two separate buyers, sources told Bisnow. The identity of the buyers was undisclosed as of press time. Bisnow was not able to determine the price.

“Under the terms of the contract, we are prohibited from sharing any information at this time,” Archdiocese spokesperson Paula Gwynn Grant wrote in an email.

Along with the Archdiocese, the parcel is co-owned by two local families. Cushman & Wakefield was tapped last year to market the property, bounded by Third and West Peachtree streets and Ponce de Leon Avenue next to Icahn Enterprises' AT&T tower, which the telecommunications giant is vacating later this year.

The AT&T tower could fit the initial requirements for Amazon if it selects Atlanta for its $5B HQ2 project. State officials pitched various sites in Midtown as being able to handle Amazon's total requirement of some 8M SF.

While the identity of the buyers was undisclosed, sources told Bisnow at least one developer was eyeing student housing. That move would make sense given the site's proximity to Georgia Tech and Tech Square, where numerous companies have been setting up shop to tap into the university's steady stream of talent.

In its marketing materials, Cushman & Wakefield stated the site could accommodate a mixed-use project of up to 3M SF. Cushman & Wakefield officials declined to comment.

“With the war for talent on the front of every CEO’s mind, any land sites offering close proximity to the bright minds at Georgia Tech should receive strong interest,” Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Pierce Owings stated on the marketing site. “This 4.1-acre development opportunity sits between Georgia Tech’s main campus, the explosive job creation being generated out of Tech Square and easy access to the world’s busiest airport via the MARTA North Avenue Station.”

Street Advocate · #**9762** Posted **Sep 6, 2018, 10:26 PM**

Dear god please do not let it be more student housing.

jpk1292000 · #**9763** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

Dear god please do not let it be more student housing.

What if it's a 50 story student housing tower? Would you still object?

sbrptree · #**9764** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpk1292000

What if it's a 50 story student housing tower? Would you still object?

I will if they name it Eviva-pus or Opus-viva

Kidding aside...something seems to be brewing there...hmm

skyscraperpage17 · #**9765** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

Dear god please do not let it be more student housing.

What's wrong with student housing?

arctk2014 · #**9766** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:41 PM**

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...southern-eyes-moving-hq-to-downtown.html

Quote:

The Fortune 500 company looking to move its corporate headquarters to the Gulch in downtown Atlanta is Norfolk Southern Corp., Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned.

The railroad company (NYSE: NSC), ranked as No. 284 on the Fortune 500 list, currently is based in Norfolk, Va. It opened its current 21-story headquarters in Norfolk in 1988. The headquarters relocation could bring as many as 1,400 jobs to Atlanta.

Norfolk Southern has been based in Norfolk since the holding company was formed in 1982 through the merger of Atlanta-based Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western. Norfolk Southern’s predecessor railroads date to the early 19th Century. The lineage of Norfolk Southern dates back 188 years..

According to Fortune Magazine, Norfolk Southern had $10.55 billion in revenues in 2017. It has been on the Fortune 500 list for 24 years.

Although the railroad is based in Norfolk, it actually has more employees in Georgia than it does in Virginia, according to the company’s website....

The real estate firm CIM has been assembling property in the Gulch. It just so happens that one of the biggest property owners is Norfolk Southern. Atlanta was formed because three major railroad lines converged in a place that was called Terminus – later Marthasville and eventually Atlanta.

Remember when CIM was asked if the Gluch project would make provisions to accommodate high-speed rail? Seems like the Fortune 500 company they might be trying to attract turns out to control 44% of the railroad ROW in the state of Georgia.

Historically many of the railroad companies have been resistant to passenger rail.

Street Advocate · #**9767** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

What's wrong with student housing?

Never said student housing was wrong. But it's crazy if we continue to let student housing proliferate in Midtown. We're introducing thousands of transient bodies whose presence ebbs and flows with the school calendar, who generally do not have an income or pay taxes, and the developments are gobbling up limited space around in-town HRT stations. I'd rather see more long-term residences and offices provided immediately surrounding the HRT stations themselves, ie: Ponce & 3rd. Sure, nothing wrong with more student housing coming to the market (it even helps alleviate the rental housing market for locals), however there is merit to consideration of what/where all sorts of developments are built. Including private student housing developments.

Street Advocate · #**9768** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:46 PM**

The irony if Norforlk Southern moves to the gulch and kills the MMPT at that location.

Sura · #**9769** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

Never said student housing was wrong. But it's crazy if we continue to let student housing proliferate in Midtown. We're introducing thousands of transient bodies whose presence ebbs and flows with the school calendar, who generally do not have an income or pay taxes, and the developments are gobbling up limited space around in-town HRT stations. I'd rather see more long-term residences and offices provided immediately surrounding the HRT stations themselves, ie: Ponce & 3rd. Sure, nothing wrong with more student housing coming to the market (it even helps alleviate the rental housing market for locals), however there is merit to consideration of what/where all sorts of developments are built. Including private student housing developments.

Agreed.

Street Advocate · #**9770** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 1:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlanta3000

I don't know specifically except Loudermilk and Regent Partners are developing the project. So it will most likely be a property Loudermilk already owns.

371 East Paces Ferry Road
"Denver-based Two Roads Hospitality LLC will flag and manage the hotel under its Thompson Hotel collection, which includes The Beekman in Manhattan, along with hotels in Nashville, Chicago and Seattle.

The Thompson Hotel in Buckhead will include about 6,000 square feet of meeting space, a local chef-driven restaurant, and a rooftop restaurant and bar. The existing bank building on the site will be demolished and a 10-story hotel will rise in its place.

Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio LLC is the architect.

The hope is break ground in second-quarter 2019, with an opening expected in early 2021."

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...tlanta-developers-plan-80m-buckhead.html

montydawg · #**9771** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 2:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Street Advocate

The irony if Norforlk Southern moves to the gulch and kills the MMPT at that location.

I used to work for Norfolk Southern- and yes, they are very afraid of commuter rail in Atlanta. Atlanta is a major choke point for them, and adding commuter rail could impact a large portion of their network, because so many key rail routes go through Atlanta. Chicago rail is a major choke point for all the railroads, and the commuter rail there is often blamed for that. The railroad could benefit from commuter rail, though, if additional tracks were added. While they would have the existing rail capacity during the day, the commuter rail lines could be used at night for additional capacity for freight. It would be very expensive to add an additional 2 rail lines along all the routes, because of all the land constraints and operational costs. I think it would be sad if nothing can be worked out to add Commuter rail to Atlanta- it will likely have to be some sort of government intervention to make it happen.

Norfolk Southern just closed an operations center in Roanoke, VA in 2014, moving those employees to Atlanta, and at the same time spent money to gut renovate all 12 stories of their midtown building, which they bought for 25 million from AT&T in 2005. At the time of the renovation, the build was maxed out and they were considering leasing space from nearby buildings. They were also having trouble recruiting in the Virginia locations.

Ultimately I think this is a move to be closer to their customers. Having a headquarters in Virginia did not have any strategic significance, besides being a historical headquarters to previous railroads over the years. It is sad for Norfolk VA, because they were a corporate presence there and with them departing, it will create a big hole there. Their headquarters building there was built in 1988, and was in need of a renovation when I had last visited there.

testarossa50 · #**9772** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 2:31 PM**

I work in the railroad business and my opinion on new commuter rail projects in Sunbelt states is very dim. My general experience is that the railroads won't accept it unless the deal is so horrific for the state that the project makes no sense whatsoever anymore. At every turn the railroads outfox the states into spending vastly more/earning vastly less money than they planned, in areas such as freight trackage tariffs, positive train control, capital development, and operations. There is also very poor transparency of these costs to the public; the numbers seem to be deliberately difficult to follow.

(However, they generate some very large projects for us and that is a good thing for me personally.)

We have an amazing system in MARTA, in which many of our stations have a higher daily ridership than some entire commuter rail systems have. We should just keep on expanding it; the higher costs per mile are more than worth it.

Triptychtwo · #**9773** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 2:34 PM**

Crane is going up for 5th & Juniper today.

Street Advocate · #**9774** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 2:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triptychtwo

Crane is going up for 5th & Juniper today.

Atlanta3000 · #**9775** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 3:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by arctk2014

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...southern-eyes-moving-hq-to-downtown.html

Remember when CIM was asked if the Gluch project would make provisions to accommodate high-speed rail? Seems like the Fortune 500 company they might be trying to attract turns out to control 44% of the railroad ROW in the state of Georgia.

Historically many of the railroad companies have been resistant to passenger rail.

Am I High?

So late last year Amazon announced they were making Atlanta a hub for their Logistics group. Now we have Norfolk Southern (RAIL COMPANY) planning to move their HQ at the same time and to the same place as the rumored HQ2? I refuse to believe there is not a connection.

By the way - rail is a major component of Amazon Logistics network.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s...1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1

testarossa50 · #**9776** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 3:32 PM**

I'd bet large sums of money there is no connection between NS corporate relocation chatter and Amazon's HQ2 or any other Amazon logistics project, besdes that Atlanta is generally a major logistics hub.

Atlanta3000 · #**9777** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 3:39 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by testarossa50

I'd bet large sums of money there is no connection between NS corporate relocation chatter and Amazon's HQ2 or any other Amazon logistics project, besdes that Atlanta is generally a major logistics hub.

CIM GROUP said it is going to take 3 years to build just the infrastructure and platforms to street level. So it is going to take another 2 - 2.5 years to build a descent size office building.

Why announce it now when it is at least 5 years before they could have an office in the Gulch? Again, at the same time and same place as HQ2?

montydawg · #**9778** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 3:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlanta3000

Why announce it now when it is at least 5 years before they could have an office in the Gulch? Again, at the same time and same place as HQ2?

5 years is a long time. They can temporarily lease space and then move offices when the time is right. I have heard they are already moving positions to Atlanta from VA. This move is too perfect for NS- I don't know if the connection to Amazon is significant, however, it would be a bonus. I think several headquarters could fit in the gulch.

Verge · #**9779** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 4:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atlanta3000

CIM GROUP said it is going to take 3 years to build just the infrastructure and platforms to street level. So it is going to take another 2 - 2.5 years to build a descent size office building.

Why announce it now when it is at least 5 years before they could have an office in the Gulch? Again, at the same time and same place as HQ2?

You are engaging in classic 'wishful thinking' in this matter. HQ2 is a long-shot at best for Atlanta-- but its a long-shot for all 20 cities at this point. I would expect an announcement from Amazon shortly on a shorter short-list so they can start the real task of competitive incentive making. And no, I have absolutely NO inside knowledge of any of this, but neither does anyone I know (including a few folks who would know something if there was anything to know).

Atlanta3000 · #**9780** Posted **Sep 7, 2018, 4:46 PM**

From Norfolk, VA Newspaper:

The NS HQ relocation is being used as a diversion for CIM Group and the CoA to get incentives for HQ2 - MARK MY WORDS.

Quote:

"The land sale is considered critical to Gulch redevelopment as well as for Norfolk Southern to proceed with its relocation plans," the paper added. "But the railroad is said to favor other sites in the Atlanta area, and not the Gulch, for a future campus."

https://pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/article_67d98782-b2b8-11e8-8561-3faac9e3c8b7.html