There are few guys more Buckhead than Charlie Loudermilk, the founder of the Aaron’s rent-to-own empire, and his son Robin, a former CEO of the company.
The elder Loudermilk put a Buck-headed statue in a tiny park at the center of the Buckhead Village. And years later he paid to renovate the park, which now bears his name and includes a statue of him rather than the one with the deer head. The Loudermilks sought to ensure that Buckhead remained the city of Atlanta’s fanciest address, with the younger Loudermilk even wielding his wealth to help to squash Buckhead’s hot club scene and push for more policing.
So it’s all the more remarkable that Aaron’s, a $3 billion a year business, may make the kind of move you rarely see these days: leaving Buckhead for the suburbs.
It says something about the changes underway along some of the city’s most affluent commercial blocks and, I suspect, about the new leadership at Aaron’s.
I thought I might hear disappointment from Robin Loudermilk when I called about news reports quoting unnamed sources as saying Aaron’s was negotiating for headquarters space in Cobb’s Galleria area.
“I think it is the right move for Aaron’s,” Loudermilk told me.
Say what?
Loudermilk, 56, said he talked with Aaron’s leaders about the relocation, given his background in development.
“They are for sure moving,” he said.
An Aaron’s spokeswoman declined to comment on any potential shift to Cobb or even disclose how many employees work at the headquarters.
Tower for sale
Earlier this year Aaron’s had said it would sell its 11-story Buckhead tower, which has been the company’s headquarters since the 1970s and apparently needs serious renovation. Aaron’s had said it planned to find a new home in the Buckhead area.
But now it appears it may end up near I-285. (The company already has accounting, payroll and some call center staff in the Marietta and Kennesaw areas.)
There are twists galore on this one. Of late, big corporate moves have generally been toward MARTA rail stations, not away from them, as Aaron’s is apparently contemplating. The contention is that millennials, techies and others have a hankering for urban living and proximity to work, and that being near public transit and local universities is a smart play.
So NCR is moving its headquarters from Gwinnett to Midtown. WorldPay is shifting from Sandy Springs to Midtown. And PulteGroup, the homebuilder, left the Detroit burbs for Buckhead.
An obvious exception is the Atlanta Braves, which is leaving the edges of downtown for Cobb. (Another is the media outfit I work for, which a few years back departed its downtown digs for the Perimeter Mall area.)
But Robin Loudermilk said in the last decade it became increasingly difficult for Aaron’s employees to navigate traffic. Many associates didn’t live in the immediate area, he said.
Aaron’s executives looked for other options in the immediate area, but didn’t find space in the tight office market that would work well, Loudermilk said.
Of the 10 biggest office markets in metro Atlanta, Buckhead has the lowest vacancy rate and the highest average asking lease rates, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE.
Saving on rent
By moving to Cobb, the company will likely end up paying sharply lower rent than what it would find in Buckhead, he said. That could be important for a company that has faced financial struggles in recent years.
The Loudermilks apparently don’t have much – or, really, any – say in what Aaron’s does.
Robin Loudermilk abruptly stepped down four years ago from the CEO job. He told me he no longer has any Aaron’s stock, having sold it to fund his development business. (He and his father have properties in Midtown and Buckhead, plus farms and wetland mitigation areas.)
Charlie Loudermilk isn’t on the company’s board, and he’s no longer a major Aaron’s shareholder, his son said.
The father, who is now 88 and still goes into his private Buckhead office a couple times a week, didn’t return my call.
Sam Massell, the long-time president of the Buckhead Coalition business group, is unhappy about Aaron’s likely move.
Charlie Loudermilk was the founder of the Buckhead Coalition in the 1980s. He owns the Buckhead Theatre and is a former chairman of the MARTA board. Massell has referred to him as “Mr. Buckhead.”
“He is proud of his community and he is loyal to it. This would never have happened if he was still CEO,” Massell said. “It takes local people to have local loyalties.”
Actually, the guy who became Aaron's CEO less than a year ago, is pretty local. John Robinson, a former president of TitleMax, was born in Piedmont Hospital and grew up in Winder, Ga.
Said Massell, “I should have painted a better picture for them as to why Buckhead was the address of choice for firms that want some credibility, some stature. They could advertise they were in Buckhead, and it would give them prestige all over the United States of America.”
An odd address?
Actually, it always struck me as odd that Aaron’s was based in Buckhead.
Charlie Loudermilk grew up blue collar, but craved the wealth he saw on display in Buckhead. He became one of community’s biggest boosters by building an empire that convinces primarily low-income customers to rent everything from washing machines to laptops and bedroom sets, under terms that cost more over time than the purchase price.
Aaron’s officials have said they charge fair rates and serve a need for willing customers. ‘Cause who would want to be considered an exploiter?
Do Aaron’s new leaders think it would be better, image wise, not to run such a business from high-end Buckhead? You could draw that conclusion, Robin Loudermilk allowed.
Buckhead is likely to get by just fine without Aaron’s. But the company’s departure would mess a bit with the pretty story line of intown’s rise.
“Buckhead is for all comers,” Massell told me.
I suspect that’s getting increasingly hard to say. Buckhead’s boom must come with a cost. Maybe, the price of the community success the Loudermilks sought is that their own creation can’t afford to live there anymore.
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