Morris & Raper InTown

Below are various articles regarding Atlanta's Housing Market. 

Hotel operator buys site in Midtown

By KEVIN DUFFY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/24/07

Streets of Buckhead project adds hotel, office/retail space

By KEVIN DUFFY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/26/07

The Streets of Buckhead project is expanding across Peachtree Road to include the site of the old Three Dollar Cafe and adjoining land.

Ben Carter Properties and Barry Hotel Partners on Tuesday announced plans to build a Hotel Monaco, a Class A office building and 55,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on 2 acres at the Pharr Road intersection. Ben Carter said the hotel will cater to businesspeople and families and won't be exceedingly trendy or expensive.

Ben Carter Properties / Barry Hotel Partners

A Hotel Monaco, shown in this artist's rendering, is planned on 2 acres at the Peachtree Road/Pharr Road intersection.

Construction is expected to begin next year and wrap up in 2010.

The bulk of the Streets of Buckhead project is on the other side of Peachtree Road, where demolition has been under way for awhile. The additional land means the development has grown to nine blocks.

A few years ago, the development site was the city's No. 1 party scene. But after outbreaks of violence, the city cracked down, making arrests and forcing bars to close earlier. Businesses suffered and became ripe for purchase.

Hotel Monaco is Streets of Buckhead's second confirmed hotel. Barry Hotel also is developing 1 Hotel and Residences, which will include 48 condos. A third hotel, an "ultra-luxury" international brand with about 100 rooms and 42 condos, will be announced soon, Ben Carter said. Plans for a Paces Plaza Hotel and Residences have been scrapped.

Hotel Monaco is part of the San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Ben Carter is under contract to buy the additional land for the project from Brad Bradshaw and plans to sell the hotel portion to Barry. Carter said acquisition and development of the additional acreage will cost roughly $250 million. Investment in the entire Streets of Buckhead development is expected to top $1 billion.

That includes construction of about 350 luxury apartments by Wood Partners.

Streets of Buckhead plans also call for 80 high-end retailers. A new one was announced Tuesday — Loro Piana, which sells clothing and accessories.

Developers team up, build lofts south of Five Point station
Group aims to improve south central area of downtown

By DAVID PENDERED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/27/06

Ben Silliman's neighborhood in downtown Atlanta might not be to everyone's taste, but it suits him so well that he bought a loft about three years ago.

The streets outside the loft he now shares with his wife, Heidi — in the SoMar building a few blocks from MARTA's Five Points Station — are busy with an eclectic mix of office workers, drunks and panhandlers. Inside their home, they are surrounded by the upscale trappings of young professionals and have balcony views of the state Capitol and downtown skyline.

"I wanted a loft and bought here because the price was 15 percent lower than Midtown, Buckhead and even Kirkwood," said Silliman, a graduate of Cobb County's Lassiter High School who works from home as a computer network consultant. The Sillimans soon could have lots of neighbors to help reclaim the community.

Three developers with track records of retooling blighted neighborhoods have teamed up to restore Atlanta's south central business district. They envision turning old office buildings into lofts and rental apartments, and constructing new apartment buildings and retail shops. The developers — Morsberger Group, Wood Partners and Miller Gallman Developers — have hung the name Railroad District on the area, a nod to its history as Atlanta's first business district and hotel row.

Morsberger plans to convert an old bank headquarters into 330 lofts priced at about $250,000, with occupancy in early 2008. Wood Partners plans to start late next year to build 325 units in the first phase of redeveloping the old Norfolk Southern Corp. headquarters. Miller Gallman owns about 12 acres in the southern portion of the district and plans to build residences and retail.

A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, a group of business leaders, thinks the Railroad District will thrive. He called the area the last big piece of land close to downtown Atlanta still available for development.

"There were two areas of downtown that, when you looked at them in an aerial photograph, you'd wonder why they haven't taken off," Robinson said. "The rest of downtown was under constant renovation, but the two areas were sitting there waiting to be discovered."

One area, the emerging Allen Plaza, has been discovered in a big way.

The plaza, named for Atlanta civil rights era mayor Ivan Allen, is home to Southern Co.'s new headquarters. Ernst & Young's Atlanta office will open a new headquarters building next spring. And plans call for three towers of hotel rooms and condos to begin opening next summer.

Three-way collaboration

The development kicked off after Barry Real Estate Co. assembled the land and sold some to other developers, Robinson said. In contrast, the Railroad District involves three separate developers collaborating to create a neighborhood, said Bruce Gallman, of Miller Gallman Developers.

"We don't need to compete because there's enough market for everyone," said Gallman, who in the 1980s pioneered the conversion of old warehouses into lofts in nearby Castleberry Hill. "It's not like there's a finite number of 1,000 people that we're fighting for. What we have to do is plan what's going on in each block of the district so we can create an interesting place where people will want to live and spend some time."

Emory Morsberger, head of the Morsberger Group, took the lead in assembling developers and other landowners. Morsberger is the owner of the old bank building, which he purchased in 2002 to help sweeten his bid to develop City Hall East into residences and shops.

Atlanta sold him City Hall East but wouldn't take the bank building as partial payment, leaving Morsberger with a big empty building in a distressed neighborhood.

That's when he observed that the nearby Glenn Building had been converted to a trendy boutique hotel.

"We had a dinner meeting for all the stakeholders at BED restaurant in the Glenn Hotel so they could see what could be done with a dump building in a dump neighborhood in a short time frame," Morsberger said. "The Glenn Hotel is a home run and set the stage for me to show stakeholders in the Railroad District that you can turn a piece of junk into something great if you have a good plan and good partners.

"Every major stakeholder has agreed that this area is skid row, and nobody wants to continue with skid row," Morsberger said. "We still have a lot of work to do, but we have great people involved and this project is happening now."

It can't happen soon enough for Bruce Teilhaber, president of Friedman's Shoes. He's sold shoes for 50 years on Mitchell Street. He said the decline started when the bank and Norfolk Southern closed, taking with them workers who were the clients of nearby shops and restaurants.

"When I started, this was a really good business street," Teilhaber said. "It's been drunks and bums the past three years. They sleep next to the buildings and get up and pee on your car. And you'd better not leave anything in it because they'll break a window to steal it."

City taxpayers to pitch in

Atlanta plans to help pay for the rebuilding of the Railroad District. The city can provide money to developers to help pay for rebuilding sewers, streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure.

Atlanta would get the money by selling bonds in the Westside Tax Allocation District and repaying bondholders with property taxes collected on new development in the district.

"I think a lot of folks are excited that area's finally getting some buzz," said Cheryl Strickland, who coordinates tax districts for the Atlanta Development Authority, the city's development arm.

Mark Randall, a director of Wood Partners, said the key to making the Railroad District successful will be turning it into a pleasant place to walk.

That includes creating streetscapes and nice walkways. He expects the homeless will move on and Central Atlanta Progress will send in its ambassadors and street cleaners.

Randall said he's bullish on the Railroad District despite the national downturn in the housing industry.

"I don't underestimate the ability of our development community to overbuild the market," Randall said. "But the reasons people want to live in town aren't going to change."

Ryan Blain has picked the Railroad District twice as his home in Atlanta.

He's a consultant with Oracle and lived in the district before moving briefly to San Francisco. He picked the district again when he returned.

"I love it," Blain said. "It has the feel that makes you think you're in a larger city."

NOW YOU KNOW WHY IT PAYS TO LIVE IN THE CITY!

Plenty of Ga. counties have commutes among nation's longest

By KEVIN DUFFY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/31/06

Those long commutes you hate so much? Take heart, your endurance has made Georgia a national leader.

No other state can boast as many counties in the U.S. Census' new top 100 list for commute times.

The data, collected in the annual American Community Survey for 2005 and released this week, show 15 Georgia counties among the leaders in piling up the minutes spent going to work. Second place New York has just 12.

What's behind the long commutes times? A willingness to trade time on the road for a good deal on a home.

"We don't have natural boundaries that limit growth," said Atlanta Regional Commission Chairman Sam Olens. "You can continue to have sprawl. And let's face it, we have too much sprawl."

The average commute time for the 10 core metro counties has changed little in five years, despite efforts to build live-work-play communities and to encourage workers to use mass transit, such as the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority's Xpress bus service. In 2000, the average commute was 31.77 minutes; in 2005, it was 31.48 minutes.

The 28-county region identified by the federal government as metro Atlanta ranks fifth nationally in commute time, at an average of 31 minutes. Even drivers in the Los Angeles area, long derided as a tangle of slow-moving superhighways, moved quicker than here, barely in the top 25 with 29 minutes.

Only metro areas in New York, New Jersey and Washington have longer commutes.

Olens also chairs the Board of Commissioners in Cobb County, which has the 14th longest commute time in Georgia, 29.7 minutes, according to the latest numbers.

"I feel my county is being invaded by Paulding County," he said about commuters.

Paulding's commute time, 36.5 minutes, is the second-longest in Georgia and 15th longest in the nation, according to the survey.

But that's a sprint compared to the nation's purported leader, Coweta County, home to about 110,000 people 35 miles south of Atlanta. Coweta's commute time is 51.6 minutes, the survey says.

"Why would I not be surprised?" asked Greg Tarbutton, Coweta's Board of Commissioners chairman. "I work in Jonesboro — OK — so I understand. It used to take me 45 minutes. Now it's an hour and 10 minutes — on a good day."

Others, however, are skeptical about Coweta's lofty status, including Census representatives, because its commute time is so far ahead of everyone else.

Second place Richmond County, N.Y., also known as Staten Island, lags Coweta by 9.6 minutes.

"It seems hard to believe," said Census demographer Phil Salopek.

But that number doesn't seem out of whack to Henry County commuter Gregg Gallagher, who drives north through the city.

"Given that traffic in this city is horrific, especially coming from the south end on the Downtown Connector, a commute of an hour or more seems the norm," he said. "I wish my commute were 32.1 minutes."

In the 2000 Census, Coweta's commute time was 29.7 minutes.

The nature of Coweta's work force and the small sampling size — less than 2 percent of the total occupied housing units in Coweta — may have led to an exaggerated commute time.

A little more than half of Coweta's workers commute to jobs outside the county, which means survey responses can be quite varied depending on the respondents' driving distance.

"A lot of the employment from Newnan and Coweta County is going to places such as the airport area, downtown and Midtown Atlanta, Cumberland Mall," said ARC senior planner John Orr. "And they're having to deal with a lot of the most congested areas in the region with their commutes."

Long commutes point out a problem common to popular outlying counties: Job growth can't keep pace with residential growth. In 2000, Coweta had a work force of about 44,000; an estimated 23,000 held jobs outside the county.

"We don't want to be a bedroom community," said Candace LaForge, president of the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce. "Our goal as a community is to create more job opportunities so our residents have choices."

While doubt surrounds the validity of Coweta's pace-setting commute time, traveling 40 miles from downtown Newnan to downtown Atlanta during morning rush hour does take an hour.

Traffic moves at a good clip until 22 minutes into the trip near Union City in south Fulton. Vehicles entering I-85 force traffic to slow to about 40 mph.

But then the pace picks up again, until I-85 and I-75 join 34 minutes into the journey.

Traffic becomes a crawl. Then it stops. From that point to the Edgewood Avenue exit, 5 miles and 18 minutes later, traffic flow is halting.

Olens said Georgia will continue to be a national leader in commute times unless more money goes to mass transit and state growth policy changes to discourage road projects that lead to sprawl.

Georgia Tech professor Michael Meyer suggested imposing variable tolls on lanes to encourage travel during off-peak hours.

"That's not a panacea by any means," he said, "but it certainly is one way of providing halfway decent service to people who can pay the toll."

In the meantime, the ARC is encouraging mixed-use development that gives people the opportunity to walk to work and shops.

"But short of that," Olens said, "our residents have the right to live wherever they want."

As Atlanta's intown continues to flourish, it's becoming the in place to live and play

By DAVID PENDERED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/20/06

Susan Booth thinks she can see evidence of Atlanta's changing population most nights the Alliance Theatre opens its doors.

"I want to say I'm seeing a more casual approach" to a dress code, said Booth, the theater's artistic director. "We're seeing people who decided at dessert one night it would be cool to walk over and see a show, with less of a sense of grand preparation."

ON THE RISE Atlanta's population is higher than it has been in at least 25 years. 1970: 495,039 1980: 424,922 1990: 415,200 2000: 416,474 2006 451,600 Source: U.S. census; 2006 estimate by Atlanta Regional Commission

Booth reasons that those choosing to live in the city are taking advantage of their short commute home to go out on the town even during the week.

"They don't have to plan ahead," she said. "They can come home, decompress and decide what they want to do and go out and do it. They don't have to fight a battle with traffic and parking to get here."

Recently released figures show that the city added nearly 10,000 people last year, continuing a growth spurt that has pushed the population higher than it has been in at least 25 years. Those who follow Atlanta population trends say the newcomers are likely to be well educated, well heeled and well intentioned.

In some neighborhoods, the newcomers will be welcomed while in others their presence could be disruptive to familiar patterns.

Following a national trend, the move of affluent residents back to the core city probably will hasten just-emerging changes.

The rising population will affect Atlanta's cultural, social, business and political institutions in ways that are so fresh they just are beginning to take shape.

The changes will resonate for residents across metro Atlanta who travel to the city center for major sporting and cultural events and shopping, as well as with out-of-town visitors.

For example, Midtown could strengthen its position as the region's arts and cultural center as more boutiques and galleries open, which is expected as investors respond to the growing number of residents with disposable income.

Buckhead already is securing its stance as the high-end dining and shopping neighborhood with a construction boom of high-end condo towers. Boarded-up storefronts in eclectic neighborhoods such as East Atlanta and the region west of Atlantic Station are reopening as coffee shops and restaurants.

Ready for change

Atlanta's Beltline — a planned network of intown parks that is supposed to include mass transit — is expected to attract an array of new businesses projected to create more than 30,000 permanent jobs over the next two decades. Planners think the Beltline could spur development of nearly 5 million square feet of retail space, the equivalent of three Lenox Square malls; 7 million square feet of office space, equal to nearly seven of the 50-story 191 Peachtree Tower building in downtown Atlanta; and 1 million square feet of light manufacturing space.

Politicians are watching the city's newcomers for signs of the issues and types of candidates they'll support.

It's likely voters will gather behind candidates who present themselves as Mayor Shirley Franklin has — a person who promises to manage efficiently, said state Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), a political scientist who has monitored Atlanta for more than 30 years.

"Shirley made the transition from [former mayors] Maynard Jackson, Andy Young and Bill Campbell as being 'our,' meaning black, mayor. Shirley was a 'nonracial' candidate who talked about making the city work," Holmes said. "I think the new residents will be looking for state lawmakers and City Council members who will be responsive and will look at governance as a partnership of the City Council, neighborhood associations, the Atlanta school board and state Legislature."

Holmes said that's what happened in the recent Democratic primary election in a House district that stretches from Midtown to south of Turner Field. Voters tossed out Doug Dean, a black representative who had served off and on since 1975, and replaced him with Margaret Kaiser, a white political newcomer from Grant Park.

Dean helped retool blighted neighborhoods around Turner Field. But Holmes said Dean lost touch with constituents. Kaiser said voters, both new residents and old-timers, told her they were ready for a change.

"This was not about me and Doug Dean or any issue of race," Kaiser said. "Voting in my election crossed every boundary — gay, straight, low income, high income, old, young, black, white, Asian. It was about them wanting a change and getting someone they felt would be accessible, proactive and accountable."

Leon Eplan, a former Atlanta planning commissioner who consults on transportation issues, said newcomers to Atlanta are probably predominantly white. They're young singles and couples without children, and empty nesters who've sold a big house in the suburbs and moved into the city for its amenities.

"The people who moved back into the city in the 1990s — where we do have [detailed] census figures — were predominantly white, middle-class people," Eplan said. "I think the next thing we'll see before the end of the decade is more black middle-class people moving into the city."

'A better place to live'

Atlanta's population has grown by about 35,000 people since 2000, according to a report this month by the Atlanta Regional Commission, the region's planning organization. Atlanta now has an estimated 451,600 residents, up from about 416,500 six years ago.

The growth seems to fit a national pattern, said Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders who seek to speed reform of cities. Cities across the country lost residents starting in 1970, the census showed, and many began reporting trickles back starting in 2000.

"Cities are becoming much better places to live," Coletta said. "We're also seeing the development of a new and imaginative set of amenities. A great example is Millennium Park in Chicago, and your Beltline project in Atlanta has the same potential."

Begun in 1998, Millennium Park transformed a 24.5-acre tract of unsightly railroad track and parking lots into lush green space that has become a gathering spot for the region. The Beltline, by contrast, is a loop around the urban core that's expected to bring $20 billion in investments over the next 24 years.

CEOs for Cities recently released results of a survey of adults age 25 to 34. It showed a strong preference for living near the downtown of a big city. The 1,000 respondents were polled online in March by GMI, a Seattle-based company that has worked on indexes of world cities. Results were interpreted by a division of Yankelovich, a public-opinion research firm.

Atlanta ranked sixth of 20 top cities identified in the survey. The key factors for desirability include cleanliness, safe streets and neighborhoods, affordable housing and ample parks and green space.

Franklin said her city's growth is tied directly to growth of metro Atlanta.

"I don't think there's any question that as long as the region continues to grow, the city of Atlanta will continue to grow," Franklin said.

Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, said housing lenders helped set the stage for Atlanta's population increase by breaking some long-held taboos, offering loans for intown construction and to a younger demographic.

"When you make that kind of credit available, word gets around," Williams said. "Young people are networking on e-mail with the class they graduated with and saying they just bought a place, and someone in San Francisco says, 'That's nuts, how did you find a place that's affordable?' They say they bought a two-bedroom condo in Atlanta for $250,000, and that's how young people are moving into areas that once were undervalued."

New people, new money

The newcomers are bringing a lot of money to a city that has struggled to maintain its roads, sewers, parks and schools. Property taxes support a city budget that's risen 31 percent since 2000 — from $448 million to $589 million this year.

Gone are the days when Atlanta didn't have the political will to spend money on potholes because it meant other priorities would be sacrificed.

The new arrivals have boosted the average income of city residents.

The average income per person in Atlanta in 2004 was about 28 percent higher than that of those who live outside the city in the 20-county metro region —