50 Story Office Tower Proposed for Sandy Springs (Atlanta, Alpharetta: for sale, leases)

[bigstick]

Looks kind of "squatty" for 50 floors???

[flamadiddle]

50 floors is respectable. Will make a nice addition to the Perimeter area.

[Pemgin]

It makes sense why these companies want to build next to the suburban MARTA stations. They can attract workers from the northern suburbs who want to drive and those living intown who want to take the train. But it's weird for a 50 story tower to be this far from the core.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Why not, cq? This development already has three towers totaling 1.5 million sf. With a location adjacent to 400 and on top of a MARTA station this would seem like a great place for high density office.

Correct me if I'm assuming wrong CQ...

I think the argument isn't about the total square footage. There's a tone of square footage in the area in lower, wider buildings.

I think he is stating the area might be slow to create a precedence that will allow developers to start building taller, more visible skyscrapers vs. the more visibly modest towers and campuses that exist currently.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

A 50-story speculative office tower? Yeah right ... In your dreams, Bud.

Hines built the 64 story Williams Tower (formerly Transco Tower) outside Loop 610 in the Galleria area in Houston many years ago. So he has experience with big buildings outside downtown areas.

[atltechdude]

With as much activity as Perimeter keeps bringing in, there needs to be more density there, so this is good.

I work right next to the Sandy Springs station and that location is critical to a lot of our international employees who might not have a car or US license.

[netdragon]

I think it's too late for this. There is really no effective office shortage in the Perimeter Center because Cumberland is absorbing the overflow, and already building a ton of office going up right now - including 20 story and 5 story offices going up in Cumberland right now, and more coming for the Braves development. There could be too much being constructed for this building to become fully occupied. Additionally, the 400 interchange construction could scare potential tenants away. This could just end up hurting the Perimeter Center office market. I'm a big fan of building appropriate-sized developments, and increasing density and walkability versus just throwing up skyscrapers that depress the surrounding area and take a huge chunk out of the urban landscape. Look at the damage that the World Trade Center buildings did to the lower Manhatten market until they were knocked down by airplanes.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by netdragon

I think it's too late for this. There is really no effective office shortage in the Perimeter Center because Cumberland is absorbing the overflow, and already building a ton of office going up right now - including 20 story and 5 story offices going up in Cumberland right now, and more coming for the Braves development. There could be too much being constructed for this building to become fully occupied. Additionally, the 400 interchange construction could scare potential tenants away. This could just end up hurting the Perimeter Center office market. I'm a big fan of building appropriate-sized developments, and increasing density and walkability versus just throwing up skyscrapers that depress the surrounding area and take a huge chunk out of the urban landscape. Look at the damage that the World Trade Center buildings did to the lower Manhatten market until they were knocked down by airplanes.

There is a huge difference between Cumberland and Perimeter. MARTA serves Perimeter and it has easy access to north Fulton.

[arjay57]

If a big company wants to have its employees under one roof I don't see any problem with a 50 story building. They have done a good job of including road access, transit and elbow room.

[erick295]

Originally Posted by netdragon

I think it's too late for this. There is really no effective office shortage in the Perimeter Center because Cumberland is absorbing the overflow.

Perimeter is outperforming Cumberland by every measure this year. It has 15% vacancy (compared to Cumberland's 19%), and has had several times more absorption despite the higher rent.

http://www.ngkf.com/Uploads/FileMana...t%20Report.pdf