A joint venture between Cousins Properties and Town Lane has paid approximately $83 million for Proscenium, a 526,000-square-foot office building in Midtown, Ga., an Atlanta suburb. Manulife Investment Management was the previous owner, according to CommercialEdge information.
Town Lane owns 80 percent of the venture and Cousins the remaining 20 percent. The latter will also provide property management and leasing services.
Following the acquisition, the new ownership will implement significant capital upgrades to reposition and modernize the building. The mid-rise was 74 percent leased at the time of sale.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Town Lane and Eversheds Sutherland LLP served as counsel to Cousins. CBRE represented the seller.
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The 24-story, Class A asset previously traded in December 2003, when Manulife acquired it from Trammell Crow for $118 million—or about $224 per square foot—CommercialEdge also shows. The current deal marks an almost 30 percent value decrease.
A well-located office property
Completed in 2000, Proscenium is LEED Gold certified and has floorplates averaging 25,000 square feet. Amenities comprise a fitness center, conference center, café, sundry shop and dry cleaning service, as well as a 10-level, above-ground parking garage and EV charging stations.
The building’s current tenant roster includes BakerHostetler, Columbia Property Trust, TOWERPOINT and American Management Association, according to CommercialEdge.
The mid-rise is at 1170 Peachtree St. NE, close to several retail destinations and some 3 miles from downtown Atlanta. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is within 12 miles.
CBRE Vice Chair Will Yowell and Executive Vice Presidents Justin Parsonnet and Jay O’Meara, along with Vice President Ryan Reethof and Senior Financial Analyst Kyle Witt, negotiated on behalf of Manulife, according to The Business Journals.
Atlanta’s office sector faces headwinds
Atlanta’s office investment volume stood at $321 million year-to-date as of June, according to the latest CommercialEdge office report. Assets traded for an average of $140 per square foot, well below the $172 national figure.
In one of the larger deals, B Group Capital Management acquired Ameris Center One and Two, an office campus totaling 531,000 square feet. An Atlanta Property Group affiliate sold the asset for $81 million or about $152 per square foot.
Meanwhile, the market is seeing the highest concentration of maturing office loans in the U.S., with 48.3 percent of loans having matured recently or maturing by the end of 2026.