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Canadian real estate services company Avison Young has acquired most of the third-party leasing and management business of Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Companies Inc. The acquisition means that Avison Young will assume the property management of four Atlanta buildings totaling nearly 600,000 square feet: 30 Allen Plaza, Lenox Plaza, Lenox Center, and 2045 Peachtree. Avison Young will also handle the leasing of 30 Allen Plaza and 2045 Peachtree. Atlanta Business Chronicle reported in September that companies were in negotiations...
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Concessions plateau in ATL office market

Since the downturn, Atlanta’s building owners have offered extraordinary incentives to lease their office space, but those concessions have eased, according to a new report. While the Atlanta office market still has bargains, the amount of free rent offered by suburban building owners is dropping, and tenant improvement allowances in both intown and suburban areas are no longer increasing, according to brokerage firm Studley Inc. “The market clearly continues to favor tenants, and the number of large transactions confirms that some are taking advantage of the conditions,” said Andrew Lechter, executive vice president, branch manager of Studley’s Atlanta office...
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Bill Kee joins Jones Lang LaSalle

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. continues adding real estate veterans to its expanding industrial services team. Bill Kee, formerly a senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s asset services group, has joined the competing brokerage giant. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. is the city’s second largest full-service commercial real estate firm, behind CB Richard Ellis, and over the past year it has made expanding its industrial services team a top priority. Kee has almost 25 years in the business, overseeing industrial leasing portfolios for AEW, Invesco and LaSalle Investment Management, among others...
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Highwoods closes on Riverwood 100

Highwoods Properties Inc. has purchased the northwest Atlanta office tower Riverwood 100 for $86.3 million, indicating better demand for office buildings despite a weak economy. Highwoods (NYSE: HIW) bought the building for nearly $172 a foot, a bit above the roughly $160 a foot real estate observers expected the company to pay. The deal closed Sept. 16. The 23-story building fetched $120 million several years ago before commercial real estate values crashed. GE Asset Management placed Riverwood 100 on the market earlier this year...
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Cushman's Elting to take new role

Mike Elting is taking a new executive role with Cushman & Wakefield Inc., stepping aside as the Atlanta market leader for the brokerage after 26 years. Elting will lead a search committee that could name his replacement as early as the end of the year. The committee includes Andy Ghertner, an executive vice president and more than 30-year veteran of Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman & Wakefield of Georgia Inc. is Atlanta’s fourth largest commercial real estate brokerage based on gross dollar volume, posting more than $940 million in sales and leasing transactions in 2009, according to Atlanta Business Chronicle...
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AEW Capital's appetite for core CRE

A pension fund advised by AEW Capital Management has purchased two suburban Atlanta shopping centers for a combined $43.15 million, reflecting strong demand for the limited supply of core real estate. The fund purchased Crabapple Shopping Center for $21.3 million and Saddlebrook Shopping Center for $21.8 million, according to Fulton County records. Both shopping centers are either in or near Alpharetta, one of the northern suburbs' most affluent areas, and both were 94 percent to 96 percent leased...
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Industrial markets strengthening

We might be seeing improving signs for industrial real estate today, an important trend for metro Atlanta as it’s the largest Southeast logistics hub. The United States’ overall vacancy rate, a key indicator of real estate performance, has declined to a two-year low of 9.7 percent at the midpoint of 2011, down from 10.6 percent the same time a year ago, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The vacancy rate’s decline from the first quarter this year represents the biggest quarterly drop since the first three months of 1997, according to Cushman & Wakefield...
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State of Oregon closes $29 million deal

A pension fund affiliated with the state of Oregon has purchased Horizon Creek Distribution Center, a three-building industrial development in Gwinnett County. An affiliate of the fund, Columbia Georgia Horizon Industrial LLC, closed on the $29 million transaction Aug. 12, according to Gwinnett County records. The fund is advised by Lincoln Property Co., which declined comment on the transaction. A CB Richard Ellis Inc. team based in Atlanta, Chris Riley, Frank Fallon and Brian Budnick, represented the seller, CLPH-Horizon Creek L...
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Xceligent comes back to Atlanta

Commercial real estate data provider Xceligent Inc. is reentering the Atlanta market, where it will compete against industry heavyweight CoStar Group Inc. Xceligent has forged a partnership with the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, whose more than 2,000 members will have access to the data. The board will continue to rely on CoStar data, but Xceligent will offer many members a more affordable alternative. About 90 percent of the board’s firms have fewer than 10 licensed brokers. Unlike the market’s giants such as CB Richard Ellis Inc...
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Camden buys "The Paces" for $39 million

A Houston real estate company has purchased the more than 30-acre Buckhead apartment complex called The Paces for $39.3 million. Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT) last month had The Paces under contract and was moving ahead with closing on the aging apartment complex at 77 East Andrews and Roswell Roads. The sales price was confirmed in Fulton County records and by Databank Inc., a firm that records real estate transactions. Camden Property Trust has sought a local Atlanta partner and may be discussing the project with former multifamily real estate executives, according to people familiar with the process...
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