Terminus 200 may land first office tenant
Turner Construction Co. may soon become the first tenant to sign at Cousin Properties Inc.’s Terminus 200, a 25-story tower that is the second office building in the 10-acre, $660 million mixed-use project at the intersection of Peachtree and Piedmont roads.
Turner Construction reportedly will lease about 50,000 square feet on two floors in Terminus 200.
New York-based Turner Construction was founded in 1902 and built several nationally known projects, including Madison Square Garden. Locally it worked on projects for Turner Broadcasting System and the city of Atlanta.
The company’s Atlanta offices are in the Monarch Tower in Buckhead.
Terminus 200 is a 565,000-square-foot office building developed with financial partner Prudential Real Estate Investors at an estimated cost of $172 million.
Terminus 100, the first office building at the complex, is reportedly about 95 percent leased.
Atlanta Financial Center getting a new club
The Atlanta Financial Center has a replacement business club for the Buckhead Club, which moved across Peachtree Road to Regent Partners’ 3344 Peachtree mixed-use project.
The City Club of Buckhead, a 36,000-square-foot business and athletic club, is a collaboration between 20First Hospitality Co., managers of Villa Christina restaurant on the Perimeter, and Hines, which manages the Atlanta Financial Center. Securing the club amenity for the Atlanta Financial Center was a top priority.
The club is scheduled to open in mid-December.
The City Club of Buckhead will occupy the 18th and 19th floors, the space previously occupied by the Buckhead Club.
Hines and partner General Motors Asset Management reportedly will invest $6.5 million in renovations to complete the club. Renovations will begin Sept. 18.
The Atlanta Financial Center is undergoing a makeover to help it compete with the newer buildings in Buckhead. It has about 268,000 square feet of vacant office space.
Spanx moving into 3344 Peachtree tower
Sara Blakely will move her Spanx Inc. Atlanta-based hosiery company into Regent Partners’ 3344 Peachtree office tower from its current location at 3391 Peachtree Road.
Founded in 2000 by Blakely, Spanx has gained national attention, including being featured on Oprah Winfrey’s show and home shopping channels.
The addition of Spanx reportedly lifts the occupancy at 3344 Peachtree to nearly 70 percent. Sony Ericsson recently decided to move its regional headquarters into the building, which also is home to the newly merged Jones Lang Lasalle Inc. and The Staubach Co.
Lenox Square signs 2 luxury boutiques
Lenox Square mall is adding two boutiques exclusive to the Atlanta market, 7 For All Mankind and Ed Hardy, which are projected to open this fall.
In addition, Betsey Johnson has moved and expanded its space in the mall. Later this year, Mayors will move and expand, and Victoria’s Secret will expand.
The 7 For All Mankind store will occupy 3,500 square feet near the mall’s Center Court, next to Coach and across from Mark Shale. The company sells a premiere brand of luxury denim lifestyle products. The Lenox Square store will carry a full range of product from 7 For All Mankind’s men’s, women’s and children’s denim, sportswear and handbag collections.
Ed Hardy will open near Bloomingdale’s and California Pizza Kitchen and will occupy 1,400 square feet. In 2004, Christian Audigier created and launched Ed Hardy to sell “street couture” fashions to men and women. Audigier has the exclusive rights to the designs of Don Ed Hardy, the “Godfather of Tattoo.”
Betsey Johnson now occupies 1,000 square feet on the second level near the main entrance and Anthropology. The New York designer’s only Georgia store is at Lenox Square.
Mayors will occupy nearly 3,000 square feet. It is scheduled to open this fall in space formerly occupied by Harold’s on the main mall level. Mayors is a leading Southeastern retailer of fine jewelry, watches and other gifts.
Victoria’s Secret will create a flagship store at Lenox Square, occupying nearly 4,000 square feet and expanding into the rear of the former Harold’s and Fitelle spaces. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Victoria’s Secret is a leading retailer of lingerie and beauty products. The expansion is scheduled for completion in the winter of 2009.
Jenny Pruitt to market high-rise condos
Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, the residential brokerage Jenny Pruitt founded last year in Buckhead, has a new division called Skyrise Group to target the luxury high-rise condo market.
Mike Bugg, who co-founded The Condo Store with David Tufts in 1993, will head up Skyrise Group.
The new unit’s first assignment is the marketing of Sovereign, the 50-story mixed-use tower at 3344 Peachtree Road that includes 82 luxury residences priced from $1 million to $3.4 million.
It also will market The Brookwood, a 20-story tower under construction at Peachtree Road and 28th Street with 219 condos priced from $500,000 to more than $1 million.
Pruitt’s company also has acquired Paces Ferry Realty, which was founded two years ago by commercial real estate developer Don Childress and The Columns Group.
Population sign back in service, counting again
The metro Atlanta population sign in front of the Darlington Apartments at 2025 Peachtree Road in Buckhead stopped counting several months ago because the population exceeded the mechanical capacity (4,999,999) of the sign, which Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen dedicated in 1965.
But the sign was back in action at 10 a.m. July 31, recording the updated metro population of 5,435,532.
Julian LeCraw & Co., owner of the Darlington, was not about to let the landmark die and purchased a $24,000 electronic upgrade to the sign.
“It provides daily bragging rights for Atlantans — right there in lights — and we’re committed to keep it in service,” LeCraw managing partner Michael Tompkins said.
On hand to help dedicate the new sign and up-to-date population count was Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell, who in the early 1970s as Atlanta’s mayor manually moved the count when the figure reached 1,500,000. On that day, he took a bottle of champagne to the mother of the newest area resident across the street at the Piedmont Hospital maternity ward.
By the way, the 5,435,532 figure came from the U.S. Census Bureau via the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the machine calculates estimated data on births and deaths in the metro area for the current total.
Chick-fil-A opens at Terminus
Chick-fil-A opened a restaurant in Buckhead’s Terminus development Aug. 7 with its new In-Line floor plan. The restaurant is in a street-level slot at 3280 Peachtree Road, at the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont roads. It will use the company’s newest concept, designed for small footprints without room for a traditional stand-alone store and drive-through. Above, Kimberly Cox, from Chick-fil-A university, trains new employees before the opening.