Crocker 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...

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Law Firm in talks for Terminus lease

Greenberg Traurig LLP is looking at Buckhead’s Terminus 200 office tower, where it could sign at least a 125,000-square-foot lease. Cousins Properties Inc., owner of the 25-story tower, has entered the early stages of negotiations with the law firm, a source familiar with the situation confirmed… Forum Development Group co-founder Ron Pfohl and The Griffin Cos. President Kirk Demetrops are launching their new firm, MidCity Real Estate Partners Inc. The partnership was forged as Atlanta building owners face pressure to restructure debt on many of their properties as the job market slows leasing and rents and values continue to fall. The situation is creating opportunities for firms like MidCity Real Estate Partners to buy buildings and developments that are struggling to lease up in the current market. Originally Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Read More...

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Real estate vets aim to ‘reinvent’ properties

Forum Development Group co-founder Ron Pfohl and The Griffin Cos. President Kirk Demetrops are launching their new firm, MidCity Real Estate Partners Inc. The partnership was forged as Atlanta building owners face pressure to restructure debt on many of their properties as the job market slows leasing and rents and values continue to fall. The situation is creating opportunities for firms like MidCity Real Estate Partners to buy buildings and developments that are struggling to lease up in the current market. Originally Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Read More...

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Future looks uncertain for developer Griffin Co.

The Griffin Co., the Sandy Springs-based real estate development company, apparently is going through a potential reorganization at the least and could be dissolved, according to rumors on the street, after the unexpected death of founder Joel Griffin in late February. Among the rumors in the past week were that the company’s office was being closed, that there had been many layoffs and that Kirk Demetrops, who was named president of the company last fall, was no longer running the company… Originally Published in the Sandy Springs Reporter Read More...

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Developer Griffin dies at 62

A great visionary. Committed to his community. A true professional. An engaging, self-made man. A tremendous dreamer. Those were terms used to describe fifth-generation Atlantan and Sandy Springs civic and business leader Joel Justin Griffin, 62, who died of a heart attack at home Feb. 27. Griffin started Sandy Springs-based The Griffin Co. in 1975 to develop neighborhood shopping centers. In the early 1980s, the company pioneered office condominiums and developed six office condominium parks, totaling more than 850,000 square feet, and the landmark 20-story, 350,000-square-foot office condominium The Peachtree in Midtown… Originally Published in the Sandy Springs Reporter Read More...

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Shipping firm forwards city $20M gift: Its Headquarters

JAS Forwarding Worldwide has purchased a 6.34-acre site on Barfield Road in Sandy Springs from The Griffin Co. for the relocation of its North American and worldwide headquarters from College Park south of Atlanta. The site, which is part of the former Cosmopolitan North office complex, includes three buildings at 6165, 6195 and 6205 Barfield Road that will be renovated — including new exteriors, building systems and interiors — for the freight-forwarding company’s 90,000-square-foot headquarters. Griffin Construction Services Inc., which along with its parent, The Griffin Co., is based at 800 Mount Vernon Highway in Sandy Springs, will be the general contractor of the more than $20 million state-of-art JAS corporate campus project, which will include the three two-story buildings, a walking and jogging trail, and lodging for some business travelers. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of this year… Originally Published in the Sandy Springs Reporter Read More...

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