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.

As summer arrives, so does a new group of interns at Ackerman!

We recently sat down with our interns to discuss how they plan on applying their newly gained experience in the future.

“I’m very excited to be here,” said Emma Lonergan, who is working in the Marketing & Communications department. She is an incoming junior at Georgia College and State University. “I’m learning so much I can apply to my college classes and later in my career.”

Projects she’s working on with Fara Wilson and the marketing team include updating the organization of the promotional items inventory, which she will track and monitor throughout the summer. She’s also working on editorial assignments, including blog writing.

Also joining Ackerman’s Marketing team for the summer is Ellis Snell, who will be assisting in the department’s day-to-day activities and select projects. Ellis is headed to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) as a freshman this fall.

Harrison Bernhardt, an intern with the Brokerage team, tells us he looks forward to applying everything he learns this summer to his future dream job in commercial real estate. An incoming senior at the University of Georgia, he’s learning a lot from the brokers he’s working with, including how to knock on doors to canvas potential clients.

“I realized that real estate was a better fit for me than finance, my original major in college, because I enjoy working in the field and meeting people face-to-face,” he said.

Also spending the summer interning for the Brokerage group are Bart Kauffman (an incoming senior at Furman University) and Connor Barry (an incoming sophomore at the University of Southern California).

All three Brokerage interns are gaining valuable experience learning commercial real estate research programs as they help our brokers in their ongoing lease and sales efforts. That includes using CoStar, LandVision and other research tools to summarize market trends, prepare lease comparables and access various details on individual properties and owners.

Bart, Connor and Harrison are also getting a first-hand look at the types of projects Ackerman develops. They recently attended a BBQ event and tour at Rockdale Technology Center, the firm’s newest Class A industrial park. Connor and Harrison were responsible for transporting our brokerage guests across the park, and they assisted the Marketing team in setting up and closing down the event.

Alex Barnes (not pictured), an incoming junior at Georgia College and State University, is one of the interns supporting the HR department this summer.

He recently attended the company’s open enrollment benefits session, where he learned about the different healthcare and benefit options available to employees.

“This was incredibly eye-opening,” Alex said. “I was unaware of all the complexities involved in selecting healthcare coverage and the wide-ranging costs.” He’ll be able to call on this knowledge when he enters the workforce and goes through the process of selecting his own insurance.

It’s great to have these bright-eyed and bushy-tailed interns on board with us this summer. We have every confidence they’ll succeed in their future careers!

Ackerman Retail is leasing exceptional ground-level retail space at 120 Piedmont Avenue, a prominent downtown Atlanta location.

We are offering up to 3,930 SF at the 26-story Georgia State University student housing and retail project dubbed “The Mix,” which is also home to a 4,000 SF RaceTrac. The soon-to-open store will be the first Racetrac of its kind in a mixed-use development when it opens this summer.

Ackerman Executive Vice President Courtney Brumbelow is representing the landlord in leasing the retail spaces. The ground-floor retail units will see plenty of foot traffic from students residing at The Mix (which will house up to 650 students), as well as from the approximately 2,000 students at four other Georgia State apartment buildings located across the street at University Commons.

Located at the corner of Piedmont and John Wesley Dobbs avenues, The Mix will offer students upscale amenities such as a resort-style pool, poolside cabanas, a fitness center, a dog park and yoga room. The RaceTrac will feature the store’s popular offerings such as a frozen yogurt station and coffee bar.

Primo Hoagies, a restaurant set to open in Sandy Springs on Thursday May 16, specializes in a sandwich that originated in South Philadelphia.

Can you guess the name of this famous sandwich?

Of course, it’s the Philly cheesesteak! Primo Hoagies, a New Jersey-based franchise, will offer that popular sandwich along with six varieties of its signature Italian hoagie at its first metro Atlanta location at Perimeter Town Center, a mixed-use center redeveloped and managed by Ackerman & Co.

Courtney Brumbelow, executive vice president for Ackerman Retail, completed a 1,750 SF long-term lease with franchisee Brian Ottaviano at the center earlier this year.

Brian has been busy attending to the many construction details at the space for the past several months. A Philadelphia native, Brian is excited to bring the restaurant’s gourmet hoagies so popular in Philly and South Jersey to the Southeast U.S.

“What differentiates Primo Hoagies is the quality of the ingredients and the master bakers who make our rolls on-site throughout the day,” Brian said. “We’re very proud of our hoagies and how they’re made, and now we get to share these sandwiches with the people of Atlanta.”

Although the cheesesteak sandwich is synonymous with the city that created it, don’t expect the walls of the Sandy Springs establishment to be covered with pictures the Philadelphia skyline or the city’s sports teams.

“I plan to embed myself in the community of Sandy Springs,” said Brian, who moved to Atlanta after attending Georgia Tech. “This is Atlanta’s restaurant.”

Founded in 1992, Primo Hoagies now operates nearly 100 locations across the East Coast, including as far south as South Carolina, Florida – and now Georgia.

Primo Hoagies is celebrating its first day at the restaurant chain’s first Atlanta-area location by giving free hoagies to the first 100 guests Thursday. Check out the Ackerman Retail Twitter and Instagram channels for additional details.

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

The combination of job growth and the surge in GDP during the long-running economic recovery has been a boon to the commercial real estate sector.

In Atlanta and across the country, there has been continued strong demand and absorption for virtually all product types, and capital has been readily available for investment.

But will the good times continue? What next?

That was the focus of Ackerman & Co.’s recently held 12^th Annual Investor Conference, attended by some 150 guests, including owners, operators, investors and brokers.

Host Kris Miller and keynote speaker David Haddow weighed in with their perspective on current economic trends and their outlook for the commercial real estate sector. Joining them with in-depth discussions of investment opportunities for specific product types were F. Keene Miller (Brokerage), Leo Wiener (Retail), Brett Buckner (Industrial) and Evan Ziegler (Investments).

“After the last two years of success, growth and prosperity, the numbers would suggest that the future of commercial real estate has never been brighter. Yet each of us feels less certain than we did two years ago. Why? Is that how we should feel?” asked Kris Miller.

There are causes for concern, said David Haddow. Current economic soft spots, he said, include the rising national debt (now at $21.6 trillion, an increase of $10 trillion since 2008), government gridlock, fast-rising home prices and diminishing consumer confidence. Combined with those issues, the length of the current cycle (nearly 10 years) makes an economic correction more likely in the next 24 months, Kris added.

How should investors respond? Here are the three biggest takeaways provided by Kris and his Ackerman & Co. colleagues:

• Stay on the field.

• Focus on the specific strengths and weaknesses of each deal – rather than macro conditions across property types or markets.

• Adopt a bias toward selling.

The annual conference also provided guests an opportunity to learn about Ackerman & Co.’s 2018 business highlights as well as its goals for the coming year.

Last year’s highlights included Ackerman’s $70-million sale of Braselton Logistics Center to Uline Inc.; the $9.75-million acquisition of the four-building Warren Drive industrial portfolio in Atlanta; the completion of the 181-key Crowne Plaza Hotel in North Augusta; and the $15-million disposition of seven industrial buildings at Stone Mountain Industrial Park, to name a few.

Kris and the team thank everyone for attending despite the rare winter-weather advisory in Atlanta!

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.

Bryan Davis Represents Gocha’s Breakfast Bar in First Atlanta Restaurant Opening

We are excited to announce the opening of a new restaurant in South Atlanta. Bryan Davis, vice president of retail services for Ackerman Retail, recently represented Gocha Hawkins in leasing space for her new fast-casual restaurant-concept, Gocha’s Breakfast Bar.

Gocha Hawkins is a salon owner and award-winning hairstylist to a number of TV and music personalities including famed Real Housewives of Atlanta. Her new 2,000-square-foot restaurant offers a contemporary twist to Southern classics for breakfast and lunch. It’s located at the Cascade Crossing Shopping Center off of Cascade Road. The restaurant opened its doors earlier this month, for both breakfast and lunch.

“It was a pleasure to help my client realize a dream of opening her first restaurant. This new entry to the dining scene complements the existing development growth in the Cascade area of South Atlanta,” said Bryan.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Bryan for all your restaurant and real estate entertainment needs.

Bryan Davis  |  770.913.3996  
bdavis@ackermanco.net

Our Retail division is excited to introduce Kelly Wilson to the team.

Kelly, one of the top retail brokers in metro Atlanta, recently joined Ackerman Retail as a senior vice president. She will focus on third-party leasing as part of a Landlord Representation team that includes Executive Vice President Courtney Brumbelow.

“Kelly brings a unique mix of expertise, including landlord and tenant representation in combination with her experience in restaurant ownership and franchise development,” said Leo Wiener, president of Ackerman Retail. “We’re thrilled to add Kelly to our team.”

She started her commercial real estate career in the restaurant sector, owning and operating several businesses before becoming a franchise director for Blimpie Subs and Sandwiches and later Raving Brands (Moe’s Southwest Grill, Doc Green’s, Shane’s Rib Shack, Flying Biscuit Café and more).

This experience expanded Kelly’s involvement in commercial real estate and site selection, ultimately leading to her current focus – retail leasing.

Most recently, she launched the third-party landlord representation platform at The Windsor Realty Group.

Among her current exclusive leasing assignments is Marietta Square Market Food Hall – which she has 100% pre-leased. The highly anticipated food hall is scheduled to open in early 2019.

Kelly’s talents extend beyond commercial real estate.

Her extensive musical theatre resume includes performances in touring Broadway plays such as South Pacific (with Robert Goulet), Theater of the Stars at The Fox Theatre and 1940’s Radio Hour at Theatre in the Square in Marietta, Ga.

Kelly has also been the lead singer in a variety of country and rock ‘n roll cover bands, singing songs by the likes of Journey and Melissa Etheridge.