By John Schaffner
editor@reporternewspapers.net

All of the talk about trouble in the real estate and lending markets does not seem to have adversely affected new development and, for the most part, deals on existing developments in the Central Perimeter business market.

Just a block away from where work has begun on a major mixed-use project at Abernathy Road and Georgia 400—which will include two high-rise office buildings, an upscale condominium project, a luxury hotel and retail space—is has been announced that Boca Raton, Fla.-based Crocker Partners LLC will build another 230,000 square feet in speculative office space at the corner of Barfield Road and Mount Vernon Highway.

Construction on the project, named Two NorthPlace, is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2008 and be completed in about a year.

The 10-story office building will be constructed on 2.2 acres the company purchased from Sandy Springs-based The Griffin Company and will offer 10,000 square feet of retail space, on-site restaurants, a fitness center and covered parking.

That followed a recent announcement by Rubenstein Atlanta Perimeter LLC that it is proposing to build a 25-story office building and an 18-story, 200-room hotel across Georgia 400 at the intersection of Hammond Drive and Perimeter Center Parkway.

That project, located near the Dunwoody MARTA rail station, is the third large mixed-use development to be proposed at the intersection.

Novare plans to build its third metro Atlanta TWELVE complex, which would feature two 30-story condo towers—likely with a hotel—retail and restaurant space and two office buildings. The Novare project would be on the southwest corner of the intersection.

On the northwest corner of the intersection, Boston-based GID Urban Development Group is planning to build 3,000 homes, 400,000 square feet of retail and 400,000 square feet of office space on 36 acres.

There is speculation also that within the next few months major redevelopment plans will be announced involving parcels along Barfield Road north of Hammond Road, replacing older low-rise office building with denser, possibly mixed-use developments.

An announcement also is anticipated within the next two months of a major mixed-use redevelopment of properties on Roswell Road right in the heart of what is being called the Town Center of Sandy Springs.

In the meantime, there is no shortage of deals taking place buying and selling commercial properties in the Central Perimeter area, although there is talk that the current situation in the market may have stalled for the time being the closing of a sale of the Northpark office complex on Abernathy Road, just east of Georgia 400.

However, Tishman Speyer recently sold the nearly 631,000-square-foot Palisades Office Park for $95 million after owning the property for just a year. Tishman and partner Lehman Brothers sold the complex of four mid- and high-rise office buildings on 23 acres at I-285 and Peachtree-Dunwoody Road to San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties LLC.

Shorenstein recently sold 1155 Perimeter Center West, which is the headquarters for Mirant Corp. and Arby’s Restaurant Group, to AEW Capital Fund for $77 million. Shorenstein managed a 50 percent profit on the sale of the building which it purchased two years ago from Cousins Properties Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Co. for about $49 million.

Just a year ago, Tishman Speyer made itself known in the Atlanta market with the $675 million purchase of Trizec Properties Inc.’s entire portfolio here of 3.5 million square feet. That portfolio included the 20-story 558,000-square-foot One Alliance Center office tower in Buckhead and a 2-acre site for Two Alliance Center, on which construction recently began with a spring 2009 completion date.

A little further west along I-285, near the western border of Sandy Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Mainstreet Capital Partners recently paid $79 million for almost 500,000 square feet of office space, purchasing 2100 RiverEdge and RiverEdge Place, two class A office buildings. The buildings were acquired from Chicago-based Wind Realty Partners.