New office tower for Buckhead
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Douglas Sams Staff Writer
December 14, 2007
Another office tower is in the works for Buckhead, possibly adding to a skyline already marked by cranes and partially built high-rises.
In the midst of a Buckhead construction boom with four towers under way, Crescent Resources LLC envisions a roughly 20-story, 500,000-square-foot building on an outparcel of Phipps Plaza along the back side of the mall, according to plans obtained by Atlanta Business Chronicle as well as the company's Web site.
The site is now a parking lot between Lenox Road and Phipps Boulevard, according to the plan created by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting in June.
The project would be known as PhippsTower. Construction would begin sometime in 2008.
Crescent would not comment about the plans. The company has owned the property adjacent to PhippsPlaza for about four years.
Crescent believes the site's proximity to Phipps, along with its access to Georgia 400, are cause to go forward.
If Crescent develops the project, it would become the latest in a string of office towers over the past year that have defined Buckhead's current building boom. Those projects include Terminus, developed by Cousins Properties Inc.; 3344 Peachtree, developed by Regent Partners LLC; 3630 Peachtree, developed by Duke Realty Corp. and Pope & Land Enterprises Inc.; and TwoAllianceCenter, developed by Tishman Speyer.
Combined, those projects will put nearly another 2 million square feet of office space on the market, according to Colliers Spectrum Cauble Inc.
Several firms are shopping for space in Buckhead, according to sources familiar with the market.
Consulting group Marsh Inc. is searching for at least 150,000 square feet, and employment law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP is pursuing up to a 100,000-square-foot lease.
The latest tower proposal reinforces the confidence in a Buckhead market that will one day outpace downtown, Midtown and northwest Atlanta, said Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition.
"We have predicted for a long number of years that Buckhead is going to become the skyline for metro Atlanta," he said.
While Buckhead has seen its share of building booms in the past, this latest one may be faster -- and taller -- than any of them, Massell said. It's simply more supply for increasing demand.
But some say this building craze is too much, too fast. While nearly 2 million square feet are to be placed on the market over the next two years, Buckhead typically absorbs much less office space annually.
"I don't understand the logic of bringing all of these class A properties on line at the same time, especially in a market that absorbs 300,000 to 350,0000 square feet a year," said John Heagy, vice president of marketing for Hines, an owner of Atlanta Financial Center -- one of the first office projects in Buckhead.
Others make the case that this isn't the first time Buckhead has enjoyed a building boom. Between 1997 and 2000, five buildings were constructed, including MonarchTower, OneAllianceCenter, Tower Place 200, Prominence at 3475 Piedmont Road, and The Pinnacle at 3455 Peachtree Road.
But PhippsTower would mark Crescent's first intown office development.
Crescent Resources, a joint venture between Duke Energy and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, has developed Satellite Place, six, six-story office buildings near Gwinnett Place mall; and CorporateCenter at Deerfield, two, six-story buildings near Ga. 400 and Windward Parkway.
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