Southeast Feature Archive

Public, Private Initiatives Have Gwinnett County Poised to Take Off

by John Nelson September 2, 2015

ATLANTA — Gwinnett County in metro Atlanta is flush with opportunity for commercial real estate investors and developers. The county boasts the most diversified demographic makeup in the entire Southeast and is one of the 20 most populous counties in the United States, with 890,000 residents. The county has grown by 250,000 in the past 10 years. Within the county is Gwinnett Place, a district situated off Pleasant Hill and I-85 that supports 2.5 million square feet of Class A office space, 15.7 million square feet of industrial space and 7.7 million square feet of retail space. Anchored by the once-bustling Gwinnett Place Mall, the district’s retail market has a 93 percent occupancy rate. The mall was recently taken out of receivership and the new owner — Moonbeam Capital — is positioning the mall for a major turnaround. The office market’s occupancy rate currently hovers at 81 percent, but the county is home to two companies in the Fortune 500 — AGCO Corp. and Asbury Automotive — as well as regional mainstays like Waffle House. NCR Corp. is still headquartered in Duluth, but the tech firm, also in the Fortune 500, announced its plans in January to move its headquarters …

September 2, 2015

Conference Coverage Features Southeast Feature Archive

Carolinas’ Commercial Real Estate Activity Described as ‘Frothy’ by InterFace Carolinas Panelists

by John Nelson June 9, 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Things are feeling a little frothy in the Carolinas, according to Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner, who opened the sixth-annual InterFace Carolinas show with a keynote economic overview on topics such as oil prices, interest rates, single-family housing and overall economic growth. “Nobody wants to use the term ‘bubble’, but ‘froth’ seems to be the right tone,” said Vitner, addressing more than 200 commercial real estate brokers, developers, investors, lenders, owners and managers last Wednesday, June 3 at the Charlotte Convention Center in downtown Charlotte. InterFace Carolinas featured panels discussing the state of commercial real estate in the Carolinas, the economic health of the region, capital markets and the health of the four principal property types — office, retail, industrial and multifamily. Vitner set the table for the conference with his valuation of the market as frothy, a term that Investopedia describes as the market condition preceding an actual market bubble where demand for assets drives their prices to unsustainable levels. “The Carolinas are very frothy,” echoed Larry Brown, president of Starwood Mortgage Capital, during the capital markets panel. “The bond buying community thinks it’s very frothy, it’s getting to very aggressive levels. If you’re a …

June 9, 2015

Features Southeast Feature Archive

Roundtable: Economic Developers Stay Busy

by John Nelson May 1, 2015

As national and international companies like Target, Under Armour, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are expanding their presence in the Southeast, what often gets lost in the shuffle is the behind-the-scenes work done by economic developers in the region. Whether they work for the government, an independent coalition or a branch of a utility company or railroad, economic developers have helped shape the Southeast’s commercial real estate landscape by recruiting and servicing clients around the world. To get a better sense of the day-to-day work necessary to land deals big and small, Southeast Real Estate Business recently spoke with three economic developers in Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina. Ben Teague is the senior vice president and executive director of Asheville-Buncombe County’s Economic Development Coalition. Part of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, the organization has helped recruit 50 businesses to the market the past six years for a capital investment of approximately $1.1 billion. Nitin Motwani is the economic development and marketing chairman of the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The DDA is an independent pubic agency of the city of Miami and is funded by a special tax levy on properties in its district boundaries. Motwani leads the DDA’s hedge fund initiative …

May 1, 2015

Features Office Southeast Feature Archive Top Stories

Demand For Tech Workers Drives Atlanta Office Market, Says CBRE

by Haisten Willis April 14, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Tech talent clustering is a growing driver of demand for office space in both large and small markets across the U.S., according to a new CBRE Research report, “Scoring Tech Talent,” which ranks 50 U.S. markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent. Atlanta ranks as number 10 on the overall tech talent list, and has the lowest apartment rents, cost of living, occupancy costs and overall cost of doing business when compared with the other cities in the top 10 (Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Francisco Peninsula, New York, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore and Austin). While established tech markets like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Seattle dominated the top spots on the “Tech Talent Scorecard,” many smaller, up-and-coming markets stood out as top “momentum markets” based on tech talent growth rates. Oklahoma City and Nashville had tech talent growth rates of 39 percent between 2010 and 2013, higher than Seattle (38 percent) and just below that of San Francisco (44 percent) and Baltimore (42 percent). Portland, Ore., and Charlotte both saw tech talent growth rates of 28 percent, outpacing well-known tech markets like Austin (26.5 percent), Silicon Valley (20.8 percent) and Los Angeles …

April 14, 2015

Southeast Feature Archive

Company Profile: Grandbridge Real Estate Capital’s Relationship with BB&T Gives the Seniors Housing Lender a Leg Up

by John Nelson April 1, 2015

In early November of last year, ROC Seniors Housing Fund Manager, a subsidiary of Bridge Investment Group Partners, was looking to finance its acquisition of Thunderbird Retirement Resort before the end of the year. Fast-forward 43 days after applying for a loan with Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, ROC Seniors had $21.2 million in which to fund its purchase of the 345-unit seniors housing community in Phoenix. As a lender to the seniors housing industry, Richard Thomas is confident that his seniors housing and healthcare team at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital can quickly meet any demand from a qualified borrower. The Charlotte-based company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Branch Banking and Trust Co. (BB&T) and is fully integrated with the bank’s national footprint. Having access to the bank’s balance sheet is a nice chip to have for Grandbridge when looking to source deals for prospective borrowers. The balance sheet through BB&T Real Estate Funding’s structured loan program was instrumental for Thomas and his team to close on the Thunderbird Retirement Resort acquisition loan so quickly. “When we walk in the door, we do have a balance sheet behind us, which means we have money in our pockets so to speak,” …

April 1, 2015

Features Georgia Office Southeast Southeast Feature Archive

Atlanta Office Vacancies Tumble Toward Pre-Recession Levels

by Scott Reid October 14, 2014

The Atlanta office market’s decline in vacancies continued in the third quarter of 2014, with the quarter ending at 17.9 percent, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. This rate is the first drop below 18 percent since the first quarter of 2009. These gains in office occupancy represent a 130 basis point decrease in vacancy from the end of 2013 and a 150 basis point decrease year-over-year. The research presented by Cushman & Wakefield showed healthy absorption totaling more than 450,000 square feet during the third quarter of 2014, giving the Atlanta market 11 consecutive quarters of net occupancy gains. This quarterly absorption brings the total year-to-date to 1.7 million square feet, an increase of 54 percent compared to the pace during the same period in 2013. “Atlanta is seeing consistent momentum in terms of tenant activity and absorption,” says Logan Menne, the research manager of Cushman & Wakefield. “As vacancy continues to tighten, the supply of existing available options is becoming more and more limited. Additionally, due to the increased demand from tenants in the Atlanta market, many landlords are beginning to increase asking rents, particularly in high-demand submarkets like Buckhead and Central Perimeter.” Several large lease …

October 14, 2014

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