High-Profile Acquisitions Worth Over $400M Spice Up the Atlanta Office Market

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

In what seems to be a thriving week for Atlanta’s commercial real estate market, two major transactions brought new owners to both the Concourse Corporate Center—home to the “King and Queen” buildings—and Buckhead’s Prominence building. The seller of both properties is TIAA-CREF, a national financial services organization with $481 billion in combined assets under management, in partnership with Equity Office Partners.

Atlanta-based Regent Partners LLC has reportedly paid more than $300 million for the Concourse, widely regarded as the premier office and mixed-use environment in the Central Perimeter submarket. For the acquisition, Regent Partners partnered with affiliates of GEM Realty Capital and Equity Group Investments.

The 2.1-million-square-foot Concourse Corporate Center, located at the intersection of I-285 and GA 400, consists of two iconic high-rise office towers, three mid-rise office buildings, a Westin Hotel, the Concourse Athletic Club and the KinderCare Child Learning Center. Currently 83 percent occupied, the new ownership is confident that vacancy will decrease along with MARTA access and the upgrades brought to the Hammond Half-Diamond Interchange.

Owners TIAA-CREF and Equity Office Partners placed the property on the market earlier this year, grabbing Regent Partners’ attention in early July, when the company first announced its intent of buying the Concourse Corporate Center. CBRE Inc. brokered the sale.

Another notable purchase was closed by Boca Raton, Fl.-based Crocker Partners as the company has added the Class A Prominence office tower in Atlanta’s Buckhead submarket to its growing portfolio. The private real estate investment company acquired the 18-story, 432,000-square-foot Prominence building and an adjacent 6.4-acre land parcel for $105 million.

Conveniently located along the Buckhead shuttle route at 3475 Piedmont Road, the 18-story ENERGY STAR building is the only building in Buckhead with 12 acres of green space. Cushman & Wakefield represented sellers TIAA-CREF and Equity Office.

For Crocker Partners, the Prominence purchase was the latest in a series of acquisitions totaling approximately $700 million and 3.1 million square feet in the past 20 months. As part of a strategy of pursuing additional Class A office properties and targeting growth markets in the Southeast and Southwest, Crocker Partners was also the buyer in one of Miami’s largest office building transactions since 2008—the purchase of Miami Center for 262.5 million, which took place in June.

Image: Concourse Corporate Center via https://www.concourseofficepark.com/