More mixed use planned in Alpharetta
ALPHARETTA- The downtown area is ready for more mixed use, said Kirk Demetrops, president of MidCity Real Estate Partners. Final plans are underway for the 25-acre Alpharetta City Center, a public-private partnership transforming the area into a walkable, livable community that includes 27,500 square feet of restaurants, 28,340 square feet of outdoor dining and 48,560 square feet of retail, along with 168 residential units and 29,950 square feet of office space. This is surrounded by 87,900 square feet of open space that includes a town green. This Article Originally Appeared in the Atlanta Business Chronicle For More Information, Please Click...
read moreCrocker Partners and MidCity plan Sandy Springs project along Georgia 400
Developers in Atlanta’s central Perimeter are drawing up plans for more projects, as tenants look to expand while existing office space fills up. The latest ambitions come from a joint venture between Atlanta’s MidCity Real Estate Partners and Florida-based Crocker Partners. The companies want to develop NorthPlace, which could include up to 370,000 square feet of office space. The 3.7-acre site stands at Barfield Road and Georgia 400 in Sandy Springs and just southeast of the new Mercedes Benz USA headquarters. The site has been a target of development for years. Crocker bought it in 2007, just before the downturn. Today, Barfield Road is part of an active corridor connecting Hammond Drive, Mount Vernon Highway and Abernathy Road, an area home to blue chip companies such as UPS, Global Payments, and IBM (ISS). Earlier this year, Mercedes Benz said it was relocating its headquarters from New Jersey to a site on Abernathy. Ashton Woods Homes also plans to convert the 76-acre site around the headquarters into a mix of townhomes, flats, apartments and retail. The development could feature more than 1,000 planned housing units. Anticipating that residential growth, NorthPlace developers have plans for ground floor retail. The site’s density can also be adjusted based on the needs of tenants, and it could accommodate build-to-suit projects from 20,000 to 100,000 square feet. “What makes us different is that we can dial up the density or go smaller,” said Kirk Demetrops, president and founder of MidCity Real Estate Partners. The joint venture has started marketing the property and needs significant pre-leasing before it would launch construction. Warner Summers – Architecture is designing the project. Across the central Perimeter, plans for new projects show how much demand Atlanta’s largest single office district is seeing from prospective tenants — and how much the market’s class A space is tightening. Overall vacancy is the lowest in over eight years, with class A vacancy dropping to 11 percent, according to market data. Roughly 2 million square of tenants in the market have leases expiring over the next two years, Demetrops said. Companies are also expanding. Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting today Enterprise software maker VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) plans to expand its Atlanta-based AirWatch business — a move that would create more than 300 jobs. Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware is said to be scouting the central Perimeter and north Fulton for at least 50,000 square feet of space. General Electric officials are also expected to tour buildings and sites across Atlanta as the company considers Georgia as a possibility to relocate its Connecticut headquarters. The Wall Street Journal recently reported a decision could come by the end of this year. Big blocks of class A Perimeter office space are drying up, as new development has been limited by tighter lending and rising construction costs. The last speculative office building to break ground in the central Perimeter was almost 10 years ago, according to data from real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. One of the few class A blocks just became available after Newell Rubbermaid Inc. decided to move its corporate headquarters from one side of Georgia 400 to the other. Developers see an opportunity, especially along Abernathy and 400. Later this year, Hines plans to start a spec office project on 14 acres at Mount Vernon Highway, Abernathy Road and Georgia 400. Cousins Properties Inc., Ackerman & Co., and H.J. Russell & Co. also formed a joint venture to develop a mixed-use project on the same corridor. All this comes as rents soar to...
read moreCrocker Partners and MidCity plan Sandy Springs project along Georgia 400
Developers in Atlanta’s central Perimeter are drawing up plans for more projects, as tenants look to expand while existing office space fills up. The latest ambitions come from a joint venture between Atlanta’s MidCity Real Estate Partners and Florida-based Crocker Partners. The companies want to develop NorthPlace, which could include up to 370,000 square feet of office space. Click here to read the original article in the Atlanta Business...
read moreFOCUS Brands to Lease Entire MidCity Plaza For New Headquarters
ATLANTA – FOCUS Brands Inc. has leased MidCity Plaza, a Class A, 63,000-square-foot office building located at I-285 and GA 400 in Atlanta. MidCity Real Estate Partners purchased the property, located at 5620 Glenridge Drive, in mid-2013. The property was completely converted to Class A standards over the course of a nearly two-year process. FOCUS Brands is the parent company of Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, McAlister’s Deli, Schlostzsky’s Bakery and Cafe and Carvel brands. This Article Originally Ran in Southeast Real Estate Business Online For More, Please Click...
read moreDemetrops snags FOCUS HQ
This represents a huge win for MidCity Real Estate Partners’ Kirk Demetrops. Kirk’s firm purchased the building for a little more than $3M from a lender in 2013 and put the facility through a $7M renovation (which we profiled here). The building is situated on a mixed-use parcel that includes the Windsor at Glenridge, a 168-unit apartment complex by Wood Partners, as well as a string of restaurants, such as Blue Moon Pizza, Taziki’s and Sushi Nami. This Article Originally Ran on Bisnow For More, please click...
read moreFOCUS Brands to lease entire MidCity Plaza for New Headquarters
Class A Building at I-285 and GA 400 completely restored by MidCity Real Estate Partners; long-term lease just secured for FOCUS Brands new Corporate Headquarters Atlanta – March 16, 2015 – FOCUS Brands, Inc. today announced their multi-year lease of the entire MidCity Plaza building, an extensively renovated, Class A property located at I-285 and GA 400. Formerly occupied by Crawford & Company, FOCUS Brands will relocate their corporate headquarters to the new location later this year. FOCUS Brands is the parent company of Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, among other top concepts, and will exclusively occupy the 63,000-square-foot building. The property was purchased by MidCity Real Estate Partners in mid-2013 and was completely converted to Class A standards over the course of a nearly two-year-long process. The office building is part of a mixed-use development including five restaurants and Class A apartments. Since purchasing the vacant office building at 5620 Glenridge Dr., MidCity Real Estate Partners thoroughly overhauled the property, including converting the entire lower level of the office building with approximately 50 reserved, covered, gated parking spaces with direct access via elevators to the upper floors. Exterior renovations to the base building included new windows and a new entrance. The interiors are entirely new including new bathrooms, lobbies and HVAC systems. Following the conversion, the building now has a high parking ratio exceeding five parking places per 1,000 square feet of space, with more than 200 of the parking spaces as covered parking. Kirk Demetrops, president of MidCity, cited MidCity Plaza’s mixed-use nature, location, and high parking ratio as particularly compelling attractions. The mixed-use development includes the Windsor at Glenridge, 168 luxury apartments developed by Wood Partners as well as restaurants Blue Moon Pizza, Taziki’s, Firehouse Subs, Qdoba and Sushi Nami. “We positioned MidCity Plaza to meet the priorities of today’s office users, this includes the ability for open and efficient floor plans, amenities on site, access, visibility and building signage” said Demetrops. “FOCUS Brands is an ideal fit for this building. We are very excited they have chosen MidCity Plaza for their headquarters.” “The timing of this building renovation was perfect for us,” said FOCUS Brands CEO Steve DeSutter. “Our business is growing at a rapid pace, and we needed an office environment that could keep up with our ambitious goals and our collaborative operating style,” said DeSutter. “The location, amenities and potential offered by MidCity Plaza give us exactly what we need to take our company to the next level, and I’m thrilled to be working with the MidCity Team.” The MidCity Plaza Team MidCity Real Estate Partners retained Glenn Kolker and Preston Menning of Cassidy Turley to lease the building and Childress Klein Properties to manage the project. Chris Wagner with JLL represented FOCUS. The Cooper Carry-designed building delivered in 1978 and served as Crawford & Company’s headquarters until they vacated in 2007. The surface parking spaces that served the building originally were redeveloped into the retail space and apartments adjacent to the building/ MidCity Real Estate Partners hire Gene Montezinos with PFVS as the base building architect. Prior to joining PFVS, Montezinos was with TVS, where he designed many Class A office buildings in Atlanta, including the Concourse, the UPS World Headquarters and Glenridge Highlands. MidCity Real Estate Partners – High Profile Projects MidCity Plaza is MidCity Real Estate Partners’ second significant Central Perimeter office redevelopment. In October 2012, MidCity acquired five buildings on 8.5 acres from Cousins Properties Inc. at GA 400 and Hammond Drive. That project, known as Hammond 400, includes a new building developed for the Thomas Eye Group. More recently, in early 2015, the city of Alpharetta...
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