No Immediate Plans for More Multifamily at Atlantic Station

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Atlanta–Not long after buying two apartment properties at the 138-acre mixed-use property Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta, CB Richard Ellis Investors has acquired an office building, parking garage and some undeveloped land at the site from seller American International Group. The latest sale puts CB Richard Ellis in charge of master planning for the development.

The multifamily components of the property, Icon and Park District, traded hands less than two months ago. Icon includes 242 units in four buildings, and was built in 2006; Park District, which dates from 2004, includes 231 units in five buildings. When they were sold by AIG to CBRE Investors, the two properties together had an occupancy of just over 91 percent.

Does the success of these two midtown multifamily properties at intersection of I-75 and I-85, the thoroughfare for commuters coming to and from Midtown and Downtown Atlanta, portend more multifamily development on the undeveloped 14.25-acre parcel that came with the most recent deal? Maybe, but as yet the buyer–CBRE Strategic Partners U.S. Opportunity 5 Fund, a private equity real estate fund whose investors are institutions–has no plans for new multifamily development.

“Although we have no immediate plans, our vision for the development is consistent with the original live-work-play environment, and we expect residential to be an important component to the overall plan,” Steve Zaleski, managing director for CB Richard Ellis Investors’ Multi-Housing Group, tells MHN.

More immediately, according to the CBRE Investors, will be changes to the retail mix at Atlantic Town Center, the 586,000-square-foot retail centerpiece of Atlantic Station that AIG sold to CBRE Investors and North American Properties in April 2010. Plans call for an emphasis on local restaurants, as well as “an improved parking experience and a redesigned security operation.”

The office building involved in the latest sale is 271 17th Street, a 534,000-square-foot property, certified LEED gold. The parking garage in that deal has about 7,000 spaces.