Atlanta Tornado Spares the City’s Multifamily Projects

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–A tornado hit downtown Atlanta last week, damaging the city’s convention center, the Georgia Dome (which was hosting the SEC basketball tournament) and Centennial Olympic Park. The storms left two people dead and caused about $150 million in damage to city buildings. It did however spare the multifamily market from any substantial damage.“Downtown Atlanta has a lot of office buildings and hotels, not multifamily projects” Jake Reid, multifamily investment specialist in the Atlanta office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, tells MHN. “The hospitality industry has been greatly affected by the tornado, but the multifamily market is not. A couple of multifamily properties were affected, but the relocation of tenants is going to be minimal.”Lisa Robinson, Chief Operations Officer of the Atlanta-headquartered ARA brokers, tells MHN, “Georgia Dome and a number of high-rise office buildings in downtown Atlanta sustained a lot of the damage. Atlanta’s downtown has very little multi-housing–unlike its midtown market–which was spared by the tornado,” Atlanta-based Post properties also confirmed that its properties had not suffered any damage due to the tornado.Some of the worst damage from the Tornado was in the historic Cabbagetown neighborhood, where the top floors caved in into a one-time cotton mill, now converted into lofts. Behind the towering brick complex, centuries-old elm and oak trees crushed wooden bungalows.