Parmenter Sells 214 KSF Suburban Atlanta Office Building

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Eight years after acquiring Gwinnett Commerce Center, in Duluth, Ga., Parmenter Realty Partners has sold the 213,600-square-foot suburban Atlanta office building to a joint venture involving Biscayne Atlantic, Red Starr Investments and PointOne Holdings.

Developed on nearly nine acres in 1988, Gwinnett Commerce Center stands 10-stories high at 3700 Crestwood Pkwy in Gwinnett County, approximately 20 miles outside of downtown Atlanta. Parmenter relied on commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield to orchestrate the sale of the Class A property and walked away from the transaction with $20.2 million, after having snapped up the asset at a 53 percent discount to replacement cost in 2005, according to Parmenter’s website.

C&W also gave a helping hand to the buyer, arranging acquisition financing for the Biscayne Atlantic-led partnership.

But C&W’s involvement with Gwinnett Commerce Center has not ended with the completion of the sales and financing transactions; the firm has been credited by the new owners with spearheading leasing and management activity at the property, which has a tenant roster with more than a little room for additional names. David Meline, an executive director with C&W, told Commercial Property Executive that 30 tenants call the building home and the current occupancy level is approximately 74 percent. It’s a figure that is in line with statistics for the NE I-85 Outside I-285/Gwinnett submarket, where the vacancy rate was 23.8 percent in the second quarter, according to a report by commercial real estate services firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

C&W, however, is undaunted by the numbers and encouraged by the fact that new owners Biscayne Atlantic and partners plan to submit Gwinnett Commerce Center to a comprehensive improvement program. “Gwinnett Commerce Center offers the buyer the prospect of achieving excellent returns by increasing occupancy levels and solidifying the property’s status as the premier Class A office building in Gwinnett County,” Meline said in a prepared statement.