Rubenstein Snags Atlanta Office Park

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Interstate North Office Park, Atlanta

Atlanta—In its first acquisition of 2016, Rubenstein Partners LP has acquired Interstate North Office Park in Atlanta, adding nearly 1 million square feet to its holdings. The private real estate investment management and advisory firm purchased the office asset from AEGON USA Realty in an approximately $90 million, off-market transaction.

Located on 67 acres in Atlanta’s Northwest submarket, the 985,500-square-foot Interstate North consists of 11 low- and mid-rise structures developed between 1971 and 2001. It’s got the size and it certainly has that all-important location factor; it sits immediately adjacent to the brand new, 41,000-seat Atlanta Braves baseball stadium and accompanying mixed-use development. Something that it doesn’t have, however, is a full tenant roster—but the fact that it’s just 60 percent leased goes in the plus column under upside potential. “We plan to aggressively implement our renovation and property improvement plans to promptly deliver the value proposition we envision for the office park,” Taylor Smith, regional director of Southeast for Rubenstein, told Commercial Property Executive.”

The market is ready for it. As noted in a fourth quarter 2015 report by commercial real estate services firm Colliers International, the Northwest submarket, along with the Central Perimeter, “stole the show” last year. The Northwest recorded in excess of 800,000 square feet of positive absorption in 2015.

“Demand in the Northwest submarket is being driven by recognition of value in an urbanizing location,” Smith added. “For competitive rental rates, tenants access high-quality space offering higher parking ratios and free parking, superior transportation infrastructure resulting from utilization of the Kennedy Interchange and other in-place and underway road/highway improvements, plus access to a more competitive business environment/tax structure and well educated workforce in Cobb County.”

Rubenstein has tapped commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield’s Caroline Nolen and Andy Sumlin to oversee leasing and management of Interstate North.