Atlanta’s Office Sector Slows Down

Atlanta’s office sector ended the first quarter with a mixed bag for fundamentals. However, the market surpassed some of its Sun Belt peers, according to the latest CommercialEdge data. Meanwhile, conversions to multifamily are becoming increasingly popular as a potential solution, and Atlanta is a leading example of this trend.

The supply pipeline is expected to shrink even more going forward, save for a few large projects that were still underway. Two of them are a life science development preleased to a biotech firm and a mixed-use tower—both signaling the sector-wide shift in trends. But no new projects broke ground in the first three months and no completions of buildings measuring 50,000 square feet or more were recorded.

Investment in Atlanta’s office sector reflected these ongoing changes as well. Prices plummeted some more and acquisitions out of foreclosure were not uncommon. Vacancy pointed to the same prolonged state of transition, as the figure grew 250 basis points over a 12-month period ending in March to 19.5 percent, just 20 basis points below the national average.

A few large projects prop up Atlanta’s office pipeline

Atlanta developers had 1 million square feet of office space under construction as of March, representing 0.5 percent of the market’s existing inventory. Activity continued to decelerate nationwide, with only 45.1 million square feet underway across all markets tracked by CommercialEdge, representing 0.7 percent of stock.

When compared to other Sun Belt markets, Atlanta lagged Austin, Texas (3.3 percent of stock under construction), Nashville, Tenn. (2.5 percent), Miami (2.3 percent), Houston (0.8 percent), Charlotte, N.C. (0.7 percent), and was on par with Phoenix (0.5 percent).

A significant office project nearing completion is at 11350 Johns Creek Parkway in Duluth, Ga. Pure Development is constructing a 206,686-square-foot building for the joint venture of U.S. Realty Advisors and Bain Capital. Back in 2023, Boston Scientific Corp. signed a prelease for the entire life science development that is set to come online later this year.

One of the largest projects underway in the metro is the 60-story property at 1072 W. Peachtree St. in Atlanta. Developed by a partnership of Rockefeller Group, Taisei USA LLC and Mitsubishi Real Estate New York, the 2 million-square-foot mixed-use asset will include 224,000 square feet of Class A office space, along with luxury multifamily and retail. Sumitomo Mitsui Bank provided a $225.7 million construction loan in 2023 and completion is scheduled for 2026.

One of the top 10 markets for conversions

In January, Atlanta ranked sixth nationwide for the total number of multifamily units set to come online from office-to-residential conversion projects. The metro had 2,239 units in the pipeline, up 57 percent year-over-year.

In addition, Atlanta had 27 office properties encompassing 3.6 million square feet in the Tier 1 bracket for a potential conversion—making them ideal candidates for adaptive reuse—according to CommercialEdge’s Conversion Feasibility Index tool. Another 191 properties, totaling 21.7 million square feet, were in Tier 2.

Investment slows across Atlanta’s office sector

Investors paid $245 million for Atlanta office assets during the first quarter, for an average of $127 per square foot—30.6 percent less than the $183 national figure. Compared to its Sun Belt peers, the market was behind Miami ($285 per square foot), Phoenix ($185), Houston ($139), Nashville ($130), but ahead of Charlotte ($81).

A transaction that closed in February highlighted the state of Atlanta’s office sector in the first quarter. An affiliate of Northside Hospital acquired Glenridge Point, a two-building, 184,912-square-foot property in Sandy Springs, Ga., for $14 million. The amount was less than a third of the price it previously traded for in 2018, $44.5 million.

In March, RG Real Estate purchased a trio of office properties that were foreclosed on. The company paid a total of $31.7 million to Wells Fargo for the assets at 125 and 175 Townpark Drive NW and 500 Townpark Lane NW in Kennesaw, Ga. Adventus Realty previously owned the buildings that encompass 263,835 square feet.

Coworking remains a solid alternative

At the end of last year, Atlanta ranked seventh nationwide for amount of coworking space. The 10 markets analyzed in January had a combined 58 million square feet, 42.5 percent of the total amount across all metros tracked by CommercialEdge, highlighting the level of demand for flexible space in these major metros.

Atlanta’s office sector had 4.8 million square feet of shared space at the end of the first quarter, representing 2.3 percent of the total. The index was ahead of the national figure, which stood at 2.0 percent. Looking at other Sun Belt markets, Atlanta was behind Miami (3.7 percent) and Nashville (3.4 percent), but ahead of Phoenix (2.0 percent), Austin (1.8 percent), Charlotte (1.7 percent) and Houston (1.7 percent).