For sale: Atlantic Station's retail complex

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The retail portion of Atlantic Station could soon have a new owner.

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File Central Park at Atlantic Station, surrounded by a mix of restaurant, retail, office and residential space.

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Current owners AIG Global Real Estate and Jacoby Development have hung out a for sale sign on that part of the iconic Midtown complex, which opened five years ago.

The sale was planned all along, according to the project’s owners. The marketing process is not expected to affect shoppers or tenants, they said.

“It’s always been our intent” to sell the project after it was developed and leased, said John Whitaker, managing director of Atlantic Station for AIG. “We are not a long-term holder of real estate.” AIG already sold the office tower at 171 17th Street, he said.

Atlantic Station is a $2 billion, mixed-use project just west of Atlanta’s Downtown Connector near the I-85/75 split. It was developed on a former steel mill site by New York-based AIG Global, a subsidiary of the giant insurance firm, and Atlanta-based Jacoby. The project has won awards and international attention for being one of the first mixed-use projects on a former industrial site, or brownfield.

A firm hired to sell the retail center recently sent out a flier to potential buyers. There’s no asking price, but marketing materials say the nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space is 87.3 percent leased and is a “landmark asset.”

Samir Idris, a senior associate Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets group, called Atlantic Station’s shops one of the biggest and best projects for sale in the United States right now.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “The tenant roster is remarkable and for that reason, I think it will garner a lot of interest.”

Idris thinks both U.S. and foreign investors will be interested.

Tenants include Dillard’s, Target, IKEA, H&M, West Elm and Old Navy. Idris said he doubts that a company like Simon Property Group, which owns Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, will buy Atlantic Station, because it doesn’t fit the traditional mall model.

“There are a lot of investors waiting on the sidelines wanting to spend money and haven’t seen quality product. Now all of a sudden we are getting hit with it,” he said.