As Ackerman & Co. steadily strengthens its services platform and adds talent to its brokerage group, the firm continues to solidify its position as a leading commercial real estate firm in the Southeast.

One way to measure a firm’s success is by the number of its brokers who are named to the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors (ACBR) Million Dollar Club. A total of 11 Ackerman brokers were named to the Million Dollar Club at the recent 2020 ACBR awards.

“This is the most brokers we’ve ever had named to the Million Dollar Club,” said Kris Miller. “Our brokerage team is producing great results for our clients and we’ll continue building our team and the quality of our services to keep those results coming.”

The Ackerman brokers added to the 2020 Million Dollar Club include Courtney Brumbelow, Brett Buckner, Bryan Davis, Brian Lefkoff, Chris Miller, Kris Redding, Sean Patrick, John Speros, Jimmy Stevens, Kelly Wilson and Larry Wood.

Three of Ackerman’s 2020 Million Dollar Club members took home Top 10 Broker honors – Brian Lefkoff (the No. 5 Retail Broker), Courtney Brumbelow (the No. 8 Retail Broker) and John Speros (the No. 5 Land Broker).

As leader of Ackerman Retail’s Tenant Representation Group, Brian’s major deals included a 30,000-square-foot lease on behalf of Painted Tree Marketplace in Buford, Ga., which marked the retailer’s first store in Georgia, while Courtney completed nearly 100 real estate transactions as the head of the Landlord Representation Group.

A long-time high producer for Ackerman as Senior Vice President of the Land Group, John’s biggest transaction was the $18 million, 65-acre land sale for the Exchange at Gwinnett mixed-use project, which he brokered with Senior Vice President Larry Wood. The project, also named one of the three finalists for ACBR’s 2020 Alvin B. Cates Award, will feature Top Golf, Andretti Indoor Karting & Games, Rooms To Go and more.

The Million Dollar Club recognizes brokers with production of $5 million or more in annual commercial transactions.

Brokers are vital to the success of every full-service real estate company, and Ackerman & Co. is fortunate to have a talented, diverse team ranging from young associate brokers to veterans with 40-plus years of experience.

At the close of every year, Ackerman & Co. recognizes brokers on both ends of that spectrum with its Broker Awards.

We’re excited to announce that John Speros is the recipient of our Broker of the Year Award and Kris Redding is our Young Broker of the Year.

Another Stand-Out Year for Veteran Broker

One of Ackerman’s most experienced and high-producing brokers, John Speros has been with the firm since 2009. He has expertise in virtually every type of commercial real estate transaction, from the sale of land parcels for single-family, multifamily and mixed-use developments to the disposition of portfolios and the acquisition of sites for commercial and residential development. His current focus is the representation of owners in land sales as leader of the Ackerman/Pioneer Land Group with Kyle Gable.

This past year has been one of John’s most productive, which is saying a lot for someone who has received multiple high-profile Atlanta market awards throughout his career – including recognition as the second-highest producing commercial land broker in 2010 and receiving the Alvin B. Cates Award for the most significant commercial real estate transaction in 2003 and 2007.

In 2019, John completed land transactions totaling nearly $75 million. Some of his biggest transactions include the $7.3-million sale of 35 acres in Gwinnett County that will become the site of the 330-unit Alta Sugarloaf multifamily complex and the $8.9-million sale of 152 acres in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., that will be used to expand a public park.

“We’re very fortunate to have someone with John’s experience and ability. He has been a key member of our team for years, and it’s great to see him have another hugely successful year,” said Kris Miller.

What stands out most about John to Kyle Gable is his combination of commercial real estate expertise and his willingness to serve as a mentor to younger brokers.

“I think there are two main qualities that make John so good in the land business. The first is his overall knowledge of all the different types of land transactions – he brings an array of knowledge to the table that most brokers just don’t have,” Gable said. “Second is his ability to get a deal closed. John understands the complexity of real estate and how to get the deal across the goal line.”

Kyle himself has benefited from John’s generosity in sharing his expertise. “When I was a 26-year-old with limited land experience, John took me under his wing and showed me how to work on land transactions and ultimately get them closed. In working with him over the past 10 years, I have seen him spend time with many young brokers teaching them about real estate,” he said.

Young Broker Hitting His Stride

A former NFL and Canadian Football League player, Kris Redding began his real estate career during the 2015 off season and now represents clients in both lease and sales transactions. Since joining Ackerman in 2017, he has demonstrated an ability to grow client relationships and become a valued partner in helping them achieve their business goals.

“It’s an honor to receive this award.” said Redding. “Ackerman’s prestige, tenured relationships within the industry, prolific resources and internal support system have provided me with a platform that has galvanized my ability to be productive in our business.” This productivity earned him a place in the NAIOP Million Dollar Club for completing more than $4 million in office leases in 2018.

Kris’s major deals in 2019 include representing Academy Orthopedics in the $5.26 million sale of its North Atlanta medical office portfolio. He also completed three lease transactions concurrently at Phoenix Business Campus with Worker’s United Southern Region, Primerica and Good Ground Development Center in five-year leases totaling 18,314 square feet.

“Kris brings the same hard-working and tenacious work ethic to real estate brokerage as he did to football. We look forward to seeing him continue his growth in commercial real estate as an important part of our brokerage team,” said Miller.

Read more about our brokerage group here: https://www.ackermanco.com/real-estate-services/overview/

Lee + White has become a hip entertainment and nightlife hub in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, offering breweries, restaurants, food manufacturers and unique retailers.

In purchasing the property with MDH Partners, Ackerman & Co. plans to expand the project’s appeal by diversifying development to include a food hall, loft offices and additional retail.

Initially constructed as industrial buildings in the 1950s and 1960s, the property was recently redeveloped by prior owner Stream Realty Partners. “We’ll be investing significant capital to continue the development of this site,” noted Ackerman & Co. Brokerage President Keene Miller.

Tenants are united by their strong attachment to the West End community and their pride in being a part of a pioneering intown Atlanta development.

Ackerman & Co. is equally committed to becoming a part of the community and plans to hold public hearings to get input on its development plans.

While Lee + White has some similarities to other notable adaptive reuse projects in Atlanta, Ackerman Retail President Leo Wiener pointed out some key differences in an interview with Bisnow.

“This is not Ponce City [Market]. We’re not going after corporate,” he said. “We just think it’s a little more edgy and gritty with the feel. We want to stay true to the neighborhood.” Like Ponce City Market, Lee + White benefits from its location steps away from the Atlanta BeltLine.

Current tenants include Monday Night Brewing, Wild Heaven Beer, Best End Brewing Co., ASW Whiskey Exchange, Hop City Craft Beer & Wine, Plywood People, Honeysuckle Gelato, Cultured South Fermentation Co., Doux South Pickles, Boxcar restaurant, Overlook Boulder + Fitness, MacStadium, and United Way of Greater Atlanta.

“Lee + White is an exciting investment for us,” said Ackerman President Kris Miller. “Stream showed vision in transforming these properties into a popular entertainment and food and beverage destination. There’s an excellent value-add opportunity for us to diversify with additional development.”

Leo Wiener and Retail Senior Vice President Kelly Wilson will lead the restaurant and retail leasing efforts at the property. Porter Henritze and Sonia Winfield, directors at Cushman & Wakefield, will represent ownership in office leasing.

We’ll be providing updates on the development plans, so be sure to visit our blog and the Lee + White Instagram page for the latest!

Slutty Vegan has come a long way in a short time.

Owner Pinky Cole started selling her plant-based burgers from a food truck in August 2018.

Since then, she has opened her first brick & mortar location in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta and signed leases for her second and third Atlanta restaurants.

Bryan Davis, senior vice president of retail services for Ackerman Retail, represented Pinky Cole in the long-term lease for the third Slutty Vegan restaurant, which will be located at 482 Edgewood Avenue just east of downtown Atlanta in the rapidly developing Edgewood Avenue retail district. Bryan will continue representing Pinky Cole in her restaurant expansion.

Her business has been a huge success, as demonstrated by the long lines of customers that regularly form outside the restaurant and food truck. The City of Atlanta even recently issued a proclamation commemorating Slutty Vegan’s success.

Generating buzz on social media has been key to the growth of the Slutty Vegan brand. Cole’s Instagram page, which now boasts more than 250,000 followers, showcases videos of celebrities such as Tyler Perry, Snoop Dog, Usher and Jermaine Dupri enjoying burgers with names like One Night Stand, Fussy Hussy (shown above) and Dancehall Queen.

Slutty Vegan also actively promotes the vegan lifestyle. The food truck is covered with a variety of pro-vegan slogans: “Vegan and Proud,” Save the World, Save the Animals,” “Vegan for the Culture” and more.

Want to read more about the Slutty Vegan success story? Check out these articles in national news outlets The New York Times, Forbes and CNN and local coverage in Atlanta Magazine.

This year’s Deloitte’s Commercial Real Estate Outlook Report focuses on how technology and changing tenant and investor expectations are ramping up competition and creating shifts in how products are sold or leased.

With these shifts, what can CRE Companies do to stay competitive and ensure they capture the rapidly growing demand?

Out-of-the-Box Properties and Business Plans – The report states that this year investors plan to increase their focus on mixed-use properties, nontraditional products and retail developments. Flexible leases and business spaces are also going to be an attractive investment.

Adaptability – Investors will be looking for the companies that can quickly respond to the rapidly changing waters of the CRE business world, whether it be with new business models or by adopting “a variety of technologies to make buildings future-ready.”

Tech-savvy presence – To attract potential investors, companies need to be able to stay shoulder to shoulder with technology and present technological agility in the way they market their properties and in their business plans.

Catering to investor and tenant needs should move CRE companies to have a different perspective on the way they do business. By increasing mixed-use, nontraditional and retail products in their portfolios, becoming more adaptable to the changes in the industry and using technological advancements in their favor, CRE companies can change with the industry and be ready for the future to come.

If you’re the owner-occupant of commercial real estate, have you considered the potential benefits of a sale-leaseback?

A sale-leaseback is when you sell your real estate asset and then lease it back long-term from the buyer. This can be an effective strategy to unlock the value of your real estate, allowing you to draw on the proceeds of the sale.

Let’s look at some of the key ways you can use a sale-leaseback to your business’s advantage:

Produce cash for your operations
Selling your asset in a sale-leaseback transaction allows you to regain access to capital that was previously tied up in your ownership of the building while still operating uninterrupted in the same location.

Then you can use the cash generated from the sale for a variety of purposes: to grow your business, pursue new opportunities, address operational issues, among others.

Gain access to an alternative financing tool
As an alternative financing option, a sale-leaseback offers a nice perk compared to conventional financing – it provides the seller more cash. In a sale-leaseback, you would typically receive 100% of the property’s value compared to 70 percent to 80 percent in conventional mortgage financing.

Another perk is the ability to avoid the burdensome provisions associated with traditional financing, including balloon payments, call provisions and refinancing.

Improve your balance sheet & boost your borrowing capacity
A sale-leaseback removes the asset from your balance sheet, converting a fixed asset into cash proceeds from the sale. In removing this liability from your balance sheet, your loan-to-value ratio is reduced, improving your credit standing and making it easier to borrow additional funds in the future.

Transfer ownership risks to the buyer
Upon completion of the sale-leaseback, the responsibilities of ownership are transferred to the buyer, including the risks of depreciation and obsolescence. Eliminating these and other real estate ownership obligations allows you to direct your attention and financial resources to what matters most – your business operations.

As an owner-operator, a sale-leaseback is a viable option for increasing your financial flexibility and liquidity. Since sale-leasebacks are complicated transactions, it’s crucial to rely on an experienced commercial real estate professional to guide you through the process.

Interested in learning more about sale-leasebacks? Contact us at 770-913-3900.

Sean Patrick Closes 100% Leased Retail Center in Kenner, La., for $5,650,000

Ackerman Retail has closed its first retail center sale in Louisiana!  Ackerman Retail Senior Vice President Sean Patrick and Southeast Commercial’s Monte Luffey represented BGHA Kenner LLC in the sale of the retail center at 2240 Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Kenner, La., 12 miles west of downtown New Orleans, for $5,650,000 ($759 PSF) at a cap rate of 6.5%.

The 7,440-square-foot retail center is located adjacent to New Orleans International Airport at the busy intersection of Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Williams Boulevard in a dense retail corridor that includes The Home Depot, Walmart, Best Buy, Academy Sports and Starbucks.

The retail center – 100% leased to Dunkin’ Donuts, AT&T and Aspen Dental – was purchased by a private investor based in Baton Rouge, La.

For more information on this sale or available listings, contact:

     Sean Patrick  |  770.913.3946
     spatrick@ackermanco.net

This weekend, Atlanta’s $1.6-billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host its biggest event to date – Super Bowl LIII.

The game will be viewed by 150-million-plus people worldwide and the full slate of events held across the city of Atlanta during Super Bowl week will pour an estimated $185 million into local hotels, restaurants, retailers and other businesses.

But the impact of this stadium – praised as “one of the most beautifully designed stadiums on the planet” by Architectural Digest – will extend far beyond the Super Bowl and other games, concerts and events held there.

Arthur Blank, owner the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, has stated: “the city is on fire” economically, and his goal is for the stadium to help Westside communities around the stadium share in that success.

Here’s a rundown of some of the key developments and initiatives taking shape near the stadium:

John F. Kennedy Park just west of the stadium is undergoing a $2-million renovation as part of the Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee’s Legacy 53 initiative to create a lasting impact beyond the game itself. The improvements will include an artificial turf playing field, a community walking path, new playground equipment and a basketball court.

The Home Depot Backyard, 11-acres of multi-use greenspace created on the site of the former Georgia Dome, serves as a large tailgating space on game days and a community park the rest of the year. The “backyard” offers a destination playground, a 3-tier pavilion, and a large central lawn for soccer games, movie nights, farmers markets and more.

A 1,000-room Signia Hilton, a new upscale hotel brand from Hilton Worldwide, will serve the adjacent Georgia World Congress Center and a growing entertainment district in the area that includes Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Rodney Cook Sr. Park, a new $45-million, 16-acre park under development in the Vine City neighborhood, will feature a great lawn, public performance space and 18 monuments to civil rights and community leaders.

Westside Works is a long-term initiative focused on creating employment opportunities for residents of Westside communities and provides access to skills training, job readiness programs and more.

Reverb by Hard Rock, an 11-floor boutique a few blocks south of the stadium, will feature 200 rooms and a rooftop bar. Expected to open in 2020, the hotel is a new spinoff of the Hard Rock Hotel brand.

The 104-key Clarion Inn & Suites, completed in spring 2018 and situated in walking distance to the stadium, marked the first hotel opening in years on Atlanta’s Westside.

“Supply and demand has never been in better balance,” Kris Miller told the more than 100 guests at Ackerman & Co. 11th Investor Conference, recently held in Atlanta.

He added that the ongoing strong demand for product – and lack of overbuilding in sectors such as office during this cycle – puts Atlanta in position to be a leading market for investors in 2018 and beyond.

The company’s annual Investor Conference is an opportunity for Ackerman & Co. to provide perspective on trends in commercial real estate and for guests to network with leading owners, operators, investors and capital sources.

Conference themes are sometimes broad in scope but this year the focus was squarely on the Atlanta market as Kris Miller addressed the question:  Atlanta – the Next Gateway Market?

Atlanta lacks the land constraints, barriers to entry or “24/7” attributes of established gateway cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston. Yet, Miller added, Atlanta’s diversified economy, success at attracting corporate relocations and growth as an entertainment hub are bringing it closer to the status of a gateway market.

Together with his partner F. Keene Miller (President, Brokerage) and Leo Wiener (President, Retail), Brett Buckner (SVP, Industrial), John Willig (Principal) and Evan Ziegler (SVP, Investment), the speakers offered insights into the investment climate in the office, industrial, retail and medical office sectors.

Some highlights from this year’s conference:

• Economic drivers including the 2017 tax plan and the easing of numerous regulations are likely to free up money for capital investment and boost demand for CRE space.
• The continued strong performance of the Atlanta industrial sector – which posted 19.9 million square feet of absorption in 2017 and is experiencing historically low vacancy levels – puts Atlanta’s growth potential ahead of the top 4 industrial markets (New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas).
• Fundamentals weakened slightly in the office sector in 2017, but there are still excellent investment opportunities for the right property in the right location across Atlanta’s office submarkets.
• Although the retail sector is out of favor amid store closings, “brick and mortar is not dead” and good retail product is available but at high cap rates.
• Strong demographics continue to fuel investment in medical office space, as does the heightened demand for “convenience” medical space located near retail.

Kris and the team enjoyed hosting the conference and look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

When you drive through the city along Interstate 75/85, Atlanta’s signature skyscrapers are prominently in view. Our skyline has grown over the years along with the city’s prominence as a business center.

Atlanta ranks #9 in the U.S. in the number of skyscrapers 150 meters or higher in height and there are 16 towers above 150 meters tall in the city. A new skyscraper will join that club if the Opus Place condominium tower is developed as planned in Midtown Atlanta.

So, how well do you know Atlanta’s skyscrapers? Here’s a fun test – see if you can “name that skyscraper” based on the clues provided below.

Let’s begin:

• The city’s first revolving lounge occupies the spaceship-shaped top of this tower.
• This tower houses the U.S. headquarters of a firm named after Atlanta’s most renowned architect.
• Featuring an obelisk-shaped spire, this skyscraper was the 9^th-tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1992.
• The exterior of this tower looks like a staircase.
• This building has a pair of identical rooftop crowns that total 7 stories in height.
• This cylindrical glass skyscraper was the tallest hotel in the world when it was completed in 1976.
• Also known as Symphony Tower, this was the first office building in Atlanta to achieve LEED Gold status.
• The green color of this tower’s distinctive crown is a result of copper oxidation.
• This tower’s wide lower portion is due to the spectacular atrium within the building’s walls.

Click here for the answers