The Sandy Springs office park that’s home to the well-known King and Queen towers has been sold, a sign of increased demand and investor confidence in the rebound of metro Atlanta real estate.
Building and Land Technology, a private real estate company, said it has acquired Concourse Corporate Center from Atlanta’s Regent Partners, which will continue to manage the complex. It includes a development site that in the past has been pitched for apartments.
The price was not disclosed. The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported a price of about $500 million, citing unnamed people. That would rank among the highest pricetags for an Atlanta commercial property in a decade.
Workers could soon see improvements to lobbies and other public spaces, and some future development.
Metro Atlanta has added about 110,000 jobs in the 12 months ended in February, according to data from PM Realty Group. Though the state and metro jobless rates lag the nation’s, the metro job growth rate of 4.6 percent in that time was about double the national average.
Vacancy rates have narrowed after the ravages of the Great Recession and a handful of speculative office towers left the region with a glut of empty office space.
Bill Weghorst, PM Realty Group executive vice president and managing director for the Southeast, said Atlanta is again appealing to investors and developers.
“We’re adding jobs but we’re not building office buildings, so landlords are raising rents,” he said.
Regent acquired the 64-acre complex in 2012 at the bottom of the market. But a warming economy and job growth and some corporate relocations have returned the Perimeter Center office market to health.
Mercedes-Benz, State Farm and Atlanta Journal-Constitution-parent Cox Enterprises have launched major projects in the area. Few large blocks of office space are available, leading real estate groups to propose new speculative buildings.
Carl R. Kuehner III, CEO of BLT, said in a news release that “Concourse presents a unique opportunity.”
“We are attracted by the supply-demand dynamics of the submarket, as well as the opportunity for a new development with uses that complement Class A office space,” he said.
