Category: Tenant Representation

Ackerman & Co. recently completed a five-year, 5,136-square-foot lease with Godavari, a national restaurant chain specializing in South Indian cuisine, at Windward Promenade in Alpharetta, Ga. Godavari is the first Georgia location for the restaurant chain, which currently has 14 restaurants across the U.S.

Troy Morris, brokerage associate at Ackerman & Co., assisted Godavari in selecting Windward Promenade as the site for its initial metro Atlanta restaurant and represented the franchise in the lease transaction. Sam Krueger of Riverwood Properties LLC represented the landlord (Riverwood Properties).

“This is an excellent, high-visibility location for Godavari’s first restaurant in metro Atlanta,” said Morris. “The restaurant will benefit from its proximity to numerous office buildings and retailers, and will also attract customers from the affluent residential neighborhoods in and around Alpharetta, which includes a heavy Indian population.”

Congratulations to Bryan Davis, our March Broker of the Month!

Bryan, who earned the Ackerman & Co. Top Young Producer of the Year award years before, continues to surpass expectations, evidenced by his most recent deals.

Last month, Bryan signed a new medical tenant and renewed an existing one, both at ten-year terms. The active broker also signed a brand new retail tenant and assisted a long-term tenant with a major expansion, doubling their space for another 10-year term.

If you’re in the market for a diligent, service-oriented commercial real estate solution provider, Bryan is your expert.

Kirk Rich, Ackerman & Co. President of Brokerage, Keener Miller (center) and Sim Doughtie

Keene Miller, Ackerman & Co. President of Brokerage and also President of The Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, spoke at the 59th Million Dollar Club Banquet, celebrating the best in commercial real estate. The Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS® is one of the largest commercial in the nation with more than 2,200 members. The 2017 Million Dollar Club produced over a record-setting $26+ billion in commercial real estate transactions, surpassing the previous record of just over $25 billion, set in 2016.

Ackerman congratulates all Million Dollar Club award winners, including our own, for their outstanding achievements. Each of the following Ackerman brokers has generated in excess of four and a half million dollars in commercial real estate sales and leasing activity last year.

Kevin Hermetz $20+ Million		Sean Patrick $20+ Million		Larry Jarema $10+ Million
Frank Farrell $4.5+ Million		Jimmy Stevens $4.5+ Million		Brett Buckner $4.5+ Million

Industry veteran Brian Lefkoff has joined Ackerman & Co. as Senior Vice President under the company’s retail services platform, Ackerman Retail, which focuses on strengthening and expanding its full service retail brand throughout the Southeast.

Lefkoff joins the team with more than 15 years of solid executive retail tenant representation and management experience. He will be representing retailers with their site selection and expansion on behalf of Ackerman Retail.

Most recently, Lefkoff was Managing Partner/Owner of Southern Retail Brokerage Services, a firm specializing in site selection and lease negotiation for retail tenants.

“We are steadfastly growing our platform with the best talent in the industry to provide optimum solutions for our clients,” said Leo Wiener, President of Ackerman Retail. “Brian has extensive relationships and experience with complex retail transactions and providing enterprising solutions to some of the nation’s major national brands.”

F. Keene Miller, President of Brokerage with Ackerman & Co. was named President of the Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS (ACBR) for the 2017 term. Miller was sworn in during ACBR’s Annual Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony held at the InterContinental Hotel Buckhead on December 9th. The Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, an instrumental factor in the growth of organized real estate in the state of Georgia since 1910, is the largest commercial realtor association in the country with more than 2,500 members.

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“Service above self is his motto,” said John O’Neill, senior managing director at Cushman & Wakefield, when describing Miller from the podium during the ceremony. “Keene is a consensus builder who leans in to get the job done,” he added. Miller will be the association’s 42^nd president.

Miller who believes in “never letting the moment be bigger than him” is committed to the ACBR’s continued efforts to increase diversity, offering higher education classes and advocating for the commercial real estate industry while supporting the communities in which they do business.

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The ABC’s of Ackerman takes flight with our first spotlight of the year. Ackerman & Co.’s 2015 Young Broker of the Year, Chandler Pope, recently sat down with us to discuss the growth of his commercial real estate career and shared some insight into his adventurous life.

A. First of all, congratulations on being named Ackerman’s Young Broker of the Year for 2015! Can you tell me about the goals you set at the beginning of 2015 and how you were able to achieve them?

It took a lot of hard work by staying disciplined, organized and focused on my business plan.  Some of my goals were networking, making a certain number of calls each week, staying up to date on commercial real estate news and researching and driving my market.

B. Let’s go back to the beginning. What brought you to Ackerman and how long have you been here?

I knew I wanted a career in the commercial real estate industry after I graduated from the University of Alabama in May of 2014.  I started networking with people in the industry and eventually met Douglas Biggs at Colliers International. He put me in contact with Ackerman’s President of Brokerage, Keene Miller.  I enjoyed meeting with Keene and the other brokers in the office. I accepted a position as an Associate in the Brokerage division in July of 2014.

C. You said that people were a big draw for you when you made the decision to join the brokerage What’s the best part of working at Ackerman?

The environment and definitely the people.  We have an outstanding work environment making it easy to accomplish tasks and stay focused on your business.  Everyone here is extremely supportive which makes for a great atmosphere.

D. Tell us a little bit about what you do you at Ackerman.

I provide brokerage services, specializing in tenant and landlord representation throughout Metro Atlanta.

E. What is the most exciting thing about commercial real estate?

Every day is different.  I enjoy meeting and interacting with a diverse range of people, scheduling and attending client tours and working on the entire transaction process from initial negotiations to move-in.

F. What advice do you have for someone trying to break into your field?

Choose a specialty and a market.  Become an expert in your market and make your presence known.  Develop a strategy, be disciplined, organized and stay focused.  Don’t let rejections slow you down.  Establish a professional relationship with everyone you meet.  Build credibility, relationships, and trust by treating everyone fairly and with respect.  Do what is in the best interest of your client and focus on their specific goals and needs by adding value.

Round two is the rapid fire round!

G. Tell us about some of your hobbies.

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I play a lot of basketball and I love to ski. I also play the guitar in my free time.

H. What’s something that surprises people about you?

Between 1994 and 2000, I have visited over 30 countries and lived overseas. In those six years, I spent four years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and two years in Santiago, Chile.

I. More than a lot of people do in their lifetime. For someone who’s done so much, what’s something that’s on your bucket list?

Sky diving was a big one that I’ve already check off, but I’d love to take it to the next level and base-jump one day.

J. Who has been the most important person in your life? Can you tell me about him or her?

My parents are the most important people in my life. They are very loving and supportive in everything I do.

Say you’ve been on the market for a while, looked at just about every space there is and finally – with the expert help of your broker – you’ve found the perfect space to lease, under the right terms and the landlord/leasing agent is ready to seal the deal. But wait…the deal can’t go through until certain details associated with a CMBS loan are resolved.

Why you might ask? In some cases, the property you are interested in leasing has a CMBS loan on it, requiring leases be approved by the Master Servicer and/or the Special Servicer of the CMBS loan before you (the tenant) can move in. Without the servicer’s consent, important things such as leasing commissions, tenant-improvement allowances, and/or landlord costs can’t be paid and the deal can get delayed.

So what exactly are CMBS loans and who are Master and Special Servicers?

CMBS stands for commercial mortgage backed securities.  These securities are bonds whose payments are derived from a loan or pool of loans on commercial real estate.  As such, these securitized loans are held in a trust that are then “serviced” by a lender.  It is the servicer’s utmost responsibility to protect the trust and thus its investors.  The primary method of protecting the trust is to review major leases within these portfolios of CMBS properties.

According to a Senior Credit Analyst on the lease team for Wells Fargo Bank, “Servicing CMBS loans are more complex than a non-securitized loan. We have more regulations to follow and more parties to get approval from. We can move things faster that are within our authority to approve as master servicer and the bigger the lease the longer it takes to get consent because many times we must send it to the special servicer and they usually have other parties they need approval from too; all of which takes longer.”

In the heat of lease negotiations, the last thing you think of is lender consent. Here are several things you can do to prevent any snags through the leasing process:

1. Think of the lender earlier in the process; at least a month before lease execution. You are not the only borrower who needs an SNDA (Subordination Non-Disturbance and Attornment Agreements) negotiated and/or a  lease reviewed.
2. The lease approval process can take up to 15 days; sometimes longer. Would it surprise you to know that Wells Fargo reviews around 5,000 leases a year and enters into about 700 SNDAs?
3. Lease consents from servicers can cost up to $500 or more.  These costs are often passed through to the landlord and sometimes the tenant.
4. The lease should not be fully executed (signed by tenant and landlord) without lender (servicer) consent.
5. The lender (servicer) is not a party to the lease.

In our last post, we discussed how to choose the best environment – office or retail – to meet your dental practice needs. This month, we’ll outline the pros and cons of your next major decision: whether to build new and renovate an existing building?

Before putting on your hard hat, it’s important to consider several key factors as you choose the right path for your practice’s current and future needs.

Click here to read more.

For the summer installment of the ABC’s of Ackerman, we chatted with Bryan Davis, Vice President of Brokerage, and learned, aside from an exciting new landlord assignment, that he is quite nostalgic.

A. What brought you to Ackerman & Co.? 

One of my colleagues, Andy Sutton, joined Ackerman when our former company dissolved. I had recently completed a tenant deal with Ackerman and really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere here so I met with Keene [Miller] about possible employment and here we are five years later.

B. Can you tell us a little about what you do at Ackerman & Co.?

I provide brokerage services, specifically representing all types of tenants and buyers. I also represent medical landlords.

C. Speaking of landlords, we’ve heard you’re exclusively representing Ackerman’s latest medical development Hillandale Physician Place.

Yes, I am. Hillandale Physician Place is an exciting new medical development across from Dekalb Hillandale Medical Center. It’s a terrific opportunity for doctors looking to expand or locate in this area. Market response has been great; the building is already 50% leased and is set to open this summer.

D. What is the best part of working at Ackerman & Co.?

The people. We have a great group and I love the support I get from everyone from every area. Every person in the company is very approachable.

E. What are some of your hobbies?

In my free time I like to fish, work out, read, and definitely spend time with my family.

F. Family being so important, can you remember a favorite childhood memory?

During the summers, I loved going to Kansas City and Wichita to attend Royals and Chiefs games with my father. I still keep up with both teams and have saved all my old autographed footballs and baseballs.

G. What’s your favorite vacation spot?

The Rosewood Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen Mexico is unreal.

H. Is there a book you would recommend everyone on the team read?

Yes. The Power of Focus by Mark Victor Hansen.

I. What do you find most exciting about commercial real estate? 

Interacting with so many different people from so many walks of life, no two situations are exactly the same.

J. What advice do you have for someone trying to break into your field? 

Don’t do it for the money. Do what you’re passionate about, stay committed and consistent; it will pay off.

Recently we discussed the factors that go into making an Atlanta dental practice successful. But before these components come into play, there is a major decision to be made: what environment is better suited for your practice? Office or retail? Read this installment to find out which is right for you.

Click here to read more.