Introduction:
Why is the Atlanta Market a Great Place to Invest? Growing just as fast as Dallas and Houston, Atlanta is Southeast’s gem. After decades of suburban sprawl, the Atlanta metropolitan region is expanding from within its limits due to rapid job growth and an influx of young employees.
Atlanta Private Equity Real Estate Investments Target Millennials
After decades of suburban sprawl, the Atlanta metropolitan region is expanding from within its limits due to rapid job growth and an influx of young employees. The city’s residential and commercial real estate are being changed for the millennial lifestyle, emphasizing cultural amenities expansion. Private equity investment funds are a major driving force behind new construction or adaptive reuse of office and multifamily buildings for this new, technology-oriented workforce.
Even as Charlotte emerges as a significant rival in the Southeast region, Atlanta continues to grow as a regional business hub. According to the most recent Census Bureau estimates, its population increased by 88,000 last year. Only Dallas and Houston are growing at the same rate.
Startups in transportation and technology are fueling job growth.
Atlanta’s largest job generator is transportation. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the world’s busiest. Among the 15 Fortune 500 businesses with headquarters in Atlanta are Delta Air Lines and United Parcel Service, both of which have anchored a robust supply chain logistics community.
Over the last decade, Atlanta jobs have been more concentrated in technology. Atlanta’s tech infrastructure is competitive with Boston, Denver, and other powerhouses, according to the Metro Atlanta Innovation Indicators Project. Most people are unaware that Atlanta now boasts nearly twice as many IT workers as Austin, Texas, or the Research Triangle in North Carolina.
Add it to the increasing list of success stories, including online lender GreenSky, which raised $874 million in a 2018 IPO from its headquarters near Interstate 85 in Atlanta’s Northeast Corridor. And institutions like Atlanta Tech Village, formed by entrepreneur David Cummings, whose Pardot SalesForce acquired a marketing automation firm, help nourish Atlanta’s scrappy startup environment.
Atlanta’s growing IT industry creates a forward-thinking, innovative business environment. The Emory and Georgia Tech campuses foster industrial engagement. At the same time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and firms such as McKesson and Kimberly-Clark are major health and bioscience anchors.
Atlanta is a good place to invest in real estate.
Atlanta’s commercial real estate, multifamily, and residential housing markets are excellent prospects for real estate investment due to its bustling business scene. The city is experiencing such a revival that Forbes ranked Atlanta’s property market one of the best to invest in for 2018.
A young professional workforce is remaking Atlanta’s broad array of neighborhoods with restaurants and breweries, nightlife, and street art. Streetcars and bike trails along Atlanta’s developing BeltLine connect inner-ring facilities and bring enjoyment to busy millennials. Its developing public transportation infrastructure connects midtown communities to greener outer suburbs.
According to CBRE’s 2018 projection, apartment rents are at record highs while remaining more reasonable than rival cities. According to Cushman & Wakefield’s 1Q 2018 market survey, downtown office rents increased 20.5 percent yearly, compared to 9.7 percent nationwide. A newly completed office skyscraper in Buckhead, a central submarket, sold for a record $270 million to Florida’s state pension fund, indicating that institutional investors remain in high demand.
Many areas across both sides of downtown feature older, character-rich structures poised for refurbishment as an established real estate market. In Atlanta, Origin has completed both ground-up and value-add projects.
Multifamily properties in Midtown, Buckhead and Central Perimeter are being renovated extensively, and a series of successful industrial building conversions and infill construction projects are updating the existing building stock. Former cotton mills and warehouses have been transformed into urban-chic flats and loft offices with flexible floor layouts for IT companies and contact centers.
The acclaimed Bacchanalia restaurant, the farm-to-table flagship of James Beard Award-winning chef Anne Quatrano, is the calling card for Midtown’s Ellsworth Office Lofts, an asset Origin purchased at the end of 2017. However, this Origin asset comprises two loft office buildings, bicycle and electric-vehicle charging stations for tenants, and undeveloped space for potential residential or commercial real estate development.
Late last year, investors rushed to commit to premium apartments at 675 N. Highland, located east of Midtown near the famed Ponce City Market. The funds will fund a new construction phase for smaller residences and additional office space.
Adjoining the site at Puritan Mill, is an adaptive reuse of a turn-of-the-century former soap mill, to complement its two completely leased business and residential buildings. The project is near steak, seafood, and roadhouse restaurant concepts by Atlanta chef Ford Fry. And recently completed Olmstead Chamblee apartments, near a light rail station, have just won a national industry award for their innovative design.
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Come join us! Email me at mark@dolphinpi.us to find out more about our next real estate investment.