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Commercial Real Estate in Peachtree Corners Stays Strong Through the Pandemic Left, Skyline Seven Real Estate arranged a $7.1 million sale of Peachtree Corners Shopping Center, a 106,257-square-foot retail property at 7050 Jimmy Carter Blvd. Opposite page, Amazon Logistics Center
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he pandemic was not kind to certain sectors of the commercial real estate landscape. Restaurants and small businesses shut down for a time, with some going out of business entirely. In some places, investor interest in office buildings, warehouses and retail centers dried up. Their vacancy rates leaped, and sales volume plummeted. Then there’s the Peachtree Corners story, which is noticeably different.
By Mark Woolsey
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Different approaches “There was only a mild slowdown during the pandemic,” said Jennifer Howard, the city’s economic development director. “Our city is unique. We have taken a couple of different approaches to economic development here.” That includes policy changes enabling mixed-use property developers to enhance their projects. An overlay district was created, and redevelopment incentives were put in place, under which developers can earn credits for greater density in return for adding such things as public art and trails and vehicle charging stations. Additional city enhancements have included partial support of the Curiosity Lab vehicle testing track, a startup incubator and coding school. “I think you need to look at the fact that the city manager and the mayor and city council have been very welcoming to
Peachtree Corners Magazine ■ August/September 2021 ■ LivingInPeachtreeCorners.com
businesses,” said Brad Kuehn, President of Atlanta Office Realty, Inc. He gives additional props to the city’s emphasis on amenities such as parks and trails, walkability and Town Center. What city officials see as a downturn instead of a disaster during the heart of the pandemic is borne out by a look at the numbers. Take sales volume, for example. Howard quotes figures from the CoStar real estate information company. Total sales volume was around $160,000,000 in the first quarter of 2020, then it fell off as low as $25,000,000 the last quarter of the year, but it has quickly rebounded to $170,000,000.
Projects in the pipeline Transactions happened and leases were signed even as COVID cases rose and many people stayed hidden away. “We had been pushing so much energy peachtreecornerslife
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into the pipeline that even when things came to a halt, we still had projects moving forward and filling the pipeline,” is how Howard explained it. One such “pipeline filler” was an investor group from Atlanta purchasing a 1980s-era strip shopping center at 7050 Jimmy Carter Boulevard, said Elliott Kyle, Vice President with Skyline Seven Real Estate. He said that buyers backed off deals like that for a few months during the worst of the Coronavirus, but he added that’s been over for a while. “We got some really good interest on it,” he said of the shopping plaza anchored by a closed fitness center, which he said would ordinarily be a tougher sell. A recent leasing flyer on the property shows well over half the spaces have been leased. “It’s the quality properties that are getting snapped up quickly,” Kyle said. Those that flunk the quality test or are overpriced are the ones that are languishing, he indicated. Readily available cash and fears about the near future are driving many deals, he said. “I think what it was, was that people were sitting on money (during the pandemic) and they needed to get a return,” Kyle
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