Jamestown Snaps Up $2B Atlanta Real Estate Business

August 14, 2024

North American Properties is selling a subsidiary that holds and manages mixed-use assets.

Investment giant Jamestown is acquiring the Atlanta subsidiary of North American Properties, which has about $2 billion in assets under management. This local branch owns and operates mixed-use properties in Eastern U.S. suburban markets.

Three of the nine North American Properties involved in the sale to Jamestown. *Image courtesy of Jamestown*

Jamestown, which has $11.7 billion in assets under management, did not respond to a query from Commercial Property Executive about the price of the acquisition.

According to Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown, the merging of the entities will provide complementary expertise: the subsidiary’s experience in suburban projects to Jamestown’s urban experience. He stresses that placemaking is a key goal for the entities.

Under the terms of the deal, a Jamestown affiliate will make an investment in the subsidiary’s portfolio, including properties in Georgia but also Kentucky, New York and North Carolina.

In Georgia, the properties are Colony Square in Atlanta, The Forum Peachtree Corners in Peachtree Corners and Avenue East Cobb in Marietta, The other assets are Birkdale Village (Huntersville, N.C.), Ridge Hill (Yonkers, N.Y.) and Newport on the Levee (Newport, Ky.).

Also included in the sale was the subsidiary’s real estate services business, which manages Avalon in Alpharetta, Ga.; Mercato in Naples, Fla.; and Riverton in Sayreville, N.J. Jamestown already has a growing real estate services business, which currently includes 22 projects in 19 cities and 10 countries.

After the deal closes in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Atlanta-based operating platform will be folded under the Jamestown name, as will its more than 200 employees. Its current managing partner, Tim Perry, will join Jamestown as a managing director & co-chief investment officer.

The privately owned NAP, based in Cincinnati, was founded by William J. Williams Sr. in 1954 and his family still controls the company. In its early years, NAP developed Kenwood Plaza, one of the first open-air shopping centers in the Cincinnati area. After a later redevelopment, the property is now known as Kenwood Towne Center.

Atlanta retail seeing flush times

The Atlanta retail market, including the retail component of mixed-use properties, is relatively strong, with its vacancy rate near a record low at 3.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, according to Colliers, which is also 250 basis points below the 10-year average for that metric.

Population growth and retail spending in metro Atlanta support retail space use, Colliers reports, with the population in the area growing at nearly twice the U.S. average over the past 10 years.

At the same time, high interest rates and construction costs have put the kibosh on retail construction starts in greater Atlanta, with total square footage under way now at its lowest rate since 2010.

Investors are thus still interested in Atlanta retail, with Colliers ranking the market fourth in the U.S. in retail property investment sales volume in 2023. In a separate deal in June, Big V Property Group and Equity Street Capital purchased Johns Creek Town Center, a 303,300-square-foot community shopping center located in suburban Suwanee, Ga.