ATLANTA | Development Thread V - Page 110

micropundit · #**2181** Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 10:03 PM**

Thursday, January 28, 2010, 3:57pm EST

Atlanta Business Chronicle
New Broad Street Companies said it has the Doraville General Motors plant under contract and will aim to redevelop the 165-acre site.

The deal could close in early summer, when initial development plans and timetables will be disclosed, said New Broad Street president David Pace.

“This is the best urban infill site in the country for a large transit-oriented development,” said Pace. “It will be clean and green, incorporating environmental remediation of the former industrial site with best practices for sustainable development.”

New Broad Street Companies is based in Orlando, Fla. It specializes in large-scale mixed-use projects, including the redevelopment of the 1,100-acre former Orlando Naval Training Center property into Baldwin Park which commenced in 2001.

Today the shuttered navy base property is a thriving community with more than 8,000 residents and 125 businesses, generating in excess of $30 million in annual tax revenue to local governments.

New Broad Street and General Motors said the contract terms and the purchase price are confidential,

New Board Street has been in discussions with GM and its real estate adviser, CB Richard Ellis Inc., for more than 18 months.

CB Richard Ellis Inc. Vice Chairman Will Yowell said the price wasn’t the only factor in this transaction, and that General Motors was focused on reaching agreement with a highly qualified and capable buyer intent on creating a new economic engine on the property where automotive production ceased in September 2008.

micropundit · #**2182** Posted **Jan 28, 2010, 11:19 PM**

By Gertha Coffee

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5:48 p.m. Thursday, January 28, 2010

Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises said Thursday it will break ground this year on a 600,000-square-foot office complex near Perimeter Mall, one of the most significant new office construction deals announced in metro Atlanta in the past couple of years.

The complex will house the technology operations of the company’s Cox Communications subsidiary, including the information technology, Internet and engineering staff.

More than 1,000 employees are expected to work at the new facility, which is near Cox headquarters, the company said. They will be relocated from properties currently being leased in Alpharetta and Dunwoody, among other locations. Construction is expected to be completed in 2012.

"It's a very significant deal," said Lanie Rea, research manager with Jones Lang LaSalle in Atlanta. The economy has taken a toll on commercial real estate and metro Atlanta has seen very few major deals in the past year.

Cox Communications is growing and wants to bring spread-out work groups together into one physical location, company officials said Thursday.

“Our company’s growth necessitates the construction of additional facilities,” Marybeth Leamer, Cox Enterprises executive vice president, administration and human resources, said in a statement. “This rings especially true for Cox Communications, which is ramping up its operations to soon launch next-generation wireless voice and Internet services. We’re excited to further develop our Central Park campus to meet their specific needs.”

Although Cox announced new leases for some of its properties last year, “This is our first new construction in quite awhile in metro Atlanta,” Cox spokesman Bobby Amirshahi said Thursday.
The construction site is a 28.8 acre tract of land known as Central Park, on the east side of Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Fulton County.

Cox Communications’ main facility, at nearby 1400 Lake Hearn Drive in DeKalb County, will continue to serve as headquarters for all its nontechnology department employees, the company said.

Pessimistic Observer · #**2183** Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 6:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by micropundit

By Gertha Coffee

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

5:48 p.m. Thursday, January 28, 2010

Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises said Thursday it will break ground this year on a 600,000-square-foot office complex near Perimeter Mall, one of the most significant new office construction deals announced in metro Atlanta in the past couple of years.

i wonder how close to perimeter mall this will be any renders of the complex available?
600,000sf is about 2 standard sized 10 story buildings i would guess

cybele · #**2184** Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 7:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pessimistic Observer

600,000sf is about 2 standard sized 10 story buildings i would guess

It's about the size of that 1180 Peachtree thing, I'd say.

The last time we came into town we noticed a bunch of cranes and such across from the Costco and I'm thinking that may be where it's at.

patrick84 · #**2185** Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 8:06 PM**

Is there a substantial reason they wouldn't choose a place downtown/midtown like 50 Allen Plaza? I don't know enough about communication companies needs in terms of infrastructure.

gttx · #**2186** Posted **Jan 29, 2010, 9:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrick84

Is there a substantial reason they wouldn't choose a place downtown/midtown like 50 Allen Plaza? I don't know enough about communication companies needs in terms of infrastructure.

Yes - they already have a huge campus on the Perimeter, if I remember correctly.

cybele · #**2187** Posted **Jan 30, 2010, 12:03 PM**

I would say location, too. These days with the high price of gas and the traffic and whatnot a lot of people just don't want to drive all the way downtown and then pay to park.

delarosa · #**2188** Posted **Jan 31, 2010, 6:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybele

I would say location, too. These days with the high price of gas and the traffic and whatnot a lot of people just don't want to drive all the way downtown and then pay to park.

Hmm...what does that imply for all of the Cox employees living South, East and West of Atlanta to say nothing of in it?

The reason is largely as alluded to previously, that they've been looking to consolidate dispersed business units and need a rather large footprint for such a campus.

NativeAtlantan · #**2189** Posted **Jan 31, 2010, 7:49 AM**

pay no attention to cybele...she has a specific agenda that's been played out over several years....going back to Andrea days.

rythym · #**2190** Posted **Jan 31, 2010, 3:23 PM**

RobMidtowner · #**2191** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 1:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybele

I would say location, too. These days with the high price of gas and the traffic and whatnot a lot of people just don't want to drive all the way downtown and then pay to park.

Have you experienced traffic in perimeter? I wouldn't cite traffic as a benefit of moving to the perimeter area.

briantech · #**2192** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 2:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobMidtowner

Have you experienced traffic in perimeter? I wouldn't cite traffic as a benefit of moving to the perimeter area.

Agreed. I live in midtown and work downtown, and I cringe having to go up to perimeter cause the traffic is so much worse.

It's funny how people in the suburbs think that traffic in the CBD is awful, because all they ever see of it is the connector. The connector, full of people from the suburbs. LOL.

ATLaffinity · #**2193** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 2:41 PM**

City of Atlanta has basically no traffic. I think it's one of the least congested major cities in the country.

Pessimistic Observer · #**2194** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 4:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobMidtowner

Have you experienced traffic in perimeter? I wouldn't cite traffic as a benefit of moving to the perimeter area.

what are you talking about it only takes almost an hour to go 3 blocks during holiday season there

sevensixtwo · #**2195** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 7:42 PM**

In seven years here I've only seen off-interstate traffic near Philips and the Dome. Pretty nice. Warner Robins has much worse traffic congestion than Atlanta.

AtlantaMustang · #**2196** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 8:14 PM**

Obviously there are bad times of the day to drive in the city. North Avenue has terrible terrible traffic when I try to leave Tech in the evening, but overall traffic is usually pretty nice downtown.

sevensixtwo · #**2197** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 9:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtlantaMustang

Obviously there are bad times of the day to drive in the city. North Avenue has terrible terrible traffic when I try to leave Tech in the evening, but overall traffic is usually pretty nice downtown.

I like to take State to 14th. Very little traffic on that route.

AtlantaMustang · #**2198** Posted **Feb 2, 2010, 9:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sevensixtwo

I like to take State to 14th. Very little traffic on that route.

Yeah, I've started going that way. It's so much better

Pessimistic Observer · #**2199** Posted **Feb 3, 2010, 12:15 AM**

apperently marta used to be good at atracting businesses to locations
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/north-perimeter-marta-is-287068.html
also for those who care i did not buy the mansion

someone else did
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2010/02/01/daily33.html

sevensixtwo · #**2200** Posted **Feb 3, 2010, 7:54 AM**

and whoever bought the penthouse for $4M thought they were getting a deal...