Tower casts shadow over Atlanta real estate

Fate of Bank of America Plaza could say a lot about investors' confidence in city.

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By J. Scott Trubey

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For sale: the tallest skyscraper in North America outside of New York and Chicago. Price: make an offer.

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Atlanta’s 55-story Bank of America Plaza went back to the lender last week, reputedly the tallest building in the nation to be foreclosed since the economic collapse.

LNR Partners, the firm managing the building on behalf of investor-owners, is expected to try to find a new buyer. That effort will be one of the most-watched events in Atlanta’s recent real estate history.

The price the tower fetches and the buyer’s plan for it could say a lot about the confidence of investors in a so-far anemic comeback for metro Atlanta’s economy and commercial real estate market.

“You are making not just an asset bet, but a market bet on Atlanta,” said Bert J. Crouch, a director and investment officer at Invesco Real Estate in Dallas.

In Sunday’s newspaper, the AJC takes a deep look at the economic implications of the Bank of America Plaza foreclosure. It’s a story you’ll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper’s iPad app. Subscribe today.