REIT to buy part of Atlanta's old Macy's building (sale, lease)

[tonygeorgia]

REIT to buy part of Atlanta's old Macy's building - Atlanta Business Chronicle

An affiliate of Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT Inc. has reached an agreement to buy part of downtown Atlanta’s former Macy’s building for $94.7 million, or about $280 per square foot.

The building, known as 180 Peachtree, is a 338,000-square-foot data center leased to six tenants, including Switch and Data, Level 3 Communications, and the city of Atlanta’s 911 center operations.

The seller, Peachtree Carnegie LLC, reached an agreement Nov. 18 with Carter Validus.

The sale is expected to close Jan. 3. It would mark one of metro Atlanta’s largest data center acquisitions this year.



Atlanta has remained one the fastest-growing data center markets, and 180 Peachtree is a beneficiary of that expansion.

[RandyWatson13]

Nice...that area is really doing better

[Brillemeister]

So it'll be used to house servers? I can't imagine very many employees would be needed to run this operation.

[arjay57]

It's kind of sad that such a beautiful old building has been reduced to a telecom center. It's some of Philip Shutze's best work. Still, it's certainly better than an empty building.

[JPD]

This is terrible news and a major lost opportunity for downtown.

[testa50]

Hasn't this building been used as a data center for quite a while already?

I think the only really interesting thing about this is the sale price. $280/SF is quite astronomical for downtown Atlanta, isn't it? The Equitable Building, right next door, sold for $30/SF, as a reference point (although millions more must be spent upgrading it, so perhaps double the number to account for this).

Not sure why it's terrible news to house servers in downtown office buildings. It's not like there's a shortage of available land for new office construction if the demand exists. What downtown Atlanta lacks is a vibrant retail, dining, and residential scene. Isn't the bottom of the building still available for retail?

[JPD]

Originally Posted by testa50

Not sure why it's terrible news to house servers in downtown office buildings. It's not like there's a shortage of available land for new office construction if the demand exists. What downtown Atlanta lacks is a vibrant retail, dining, and residential scene. Isn't the bottom of the building still available for retail?

It's terrible news any time one of our VERY few historic buildings gets used for a purpose that prevents the public from using and appreciating the building. Wiring doesn't need to be housed in grand old buildings. I realize this building has been a data center for a while now, but I would much rather have seen it get sold to someone who had plans to make something out of it that would actually improve the lives of those in downtown and make downtown a more attractive place to live or visit.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by JPD

It's terrible news any time one of our VERY few historic buildings gets used for a purpose that prevents the public from using and appreciating the building. Wiring doesn't need to be housed in grand old buildings. I realize this building has been a data center for a while now, but I would much rather have seen it get sold to someone who had plans to make something out of it that would actually improve the lives of those in downtown and make downtown a more attractive place to live or visit.

I agree it would be way better to have the building house a historic hotel or something, but I think most of the experience of the building comes from street level and retail. This would be different if lots of the interior features remain--is this the case?

Still, I'd love to see more active use of the street level, which to my understanding is completely attainable.

I know for the Biltmore, the whole building was essentially gutted before making it offices so nowadays it's really just a historic shell (but still an awesome building and asset).

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by testa50

Hasn't this building been used as a data center for quite a while already?

I think the only really interesting thing about this is the sale price. $280/SF is quite astronomical for downtown Atlanta, isn't it? The Equitable Building, right next door, sold for $30/SF, as a reference point (although millions more must be spent upgrading it, so perhaps double the number to account for this).

Not sure why it's terrible news to house servers in downtown office buildings. It's not like there's a shortage of available land for new office construction if the demand exists. What downtown Atlanta lacks is a vibrant retail, dining, and residential scene. Isn't the bottom of the building still available for retail?

I'd venture it's the existing infrastructure in place that make it valuable. They probably laid a lot of fiber, power, and AC making it a lot more useful than dated office space. It's probably a lot cheaper to build in more capacity than to convert another building. I always wondered why that building had an inordinate number of air handlers (whole roof is covered in large units) given the minimal activity there.

[MathmanMathman]

That's horrible news. A prime Peachtree address to house a data center?