Buckhead a big winner as Carter’s Inc. reported moving headquarters to 8 floors in Phipps Tower

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The news about Atlanta-based Carter’s Inc., the children’sclothing company, has been fast and furious in the past few weeks, and it lookslike Buckhead will be the very big winner.
 In September, the AtlantaBusiness Chronicle announced that Carter’s was looking to move its headquartersfrom Midtown to Buckhead.
Thursday, the BusinessChronicle announced Carter’s will move its retail store, ITand financial operations—and about 200 jobs—from Shelton, Conn. to its Atlantaheadquarters by the end of 2013.

The Phipps Tower office building in Buckhead

Today, the Business Chronicle has announced Carter's hasapparently committed to lease about eight floors at the 20-story Phipps Towerin Buckhead owned by Manulife Financial Corp.
At present, Carter's has more than 100,000 square feet, orseveral floors, in Midtown’s Proscenium building, also owned by Manulife.Manulife could not accommodate the company's expansion at its Prosceniumbuilding.
The Business Chronicle reports the nearly 200,000-square-footheadquarters lease would be one of Buckhead's largest ever, and it could bevalued at more than $70 million over at least a dozen years, excludingconcessions and escalation, according to commercial real estate brokers.
The move would instantly give Carter's headquarters much greatervisibility, the Business Chronicle reports. Phipps Tower rises next to theluxury mall Phipps Plaza and stands over Georgia 400 at Lenox Road.

This map shows the location of Buckhead's  Phipps Tower office building 

It would also mean that all the Buckhead buildings of the lastdevelopment wave would be at least 70 percent leased, according to the BusinessChronicle. Vacancy was almost 30 percent in 2010 after the spec officebuildings 3630 Peachtree, Two Alliance Center, Terminus 200 and Phipps Towerwere completed.
The jobs that would be moving here from Connecticut  as a result of the announced consolidationThursday by Carter  would includepositions in retail merchandising and store operations, finance, andinformation technology. The company, which has long been headquartered in theAtlanta market, currently employs about 1,200 people here.
The consolidation move will cost the kid’s clothing manufacturer$35 million to $40 million, according to the Business Chronicle.

Michael D. Casey

“We have a long and successful history of doing business inGeorgia,” said Michael D. Casey, chairman and CEO of Carter’s, in a statement.“Atlanta is a very compelling place to live and work. We look forward tobringing our Connecticut-based operations to Atlanta, which will strengthen ourcollaboration and ability to provide consumers with the best value andexperience in young children’s apparel.”

Carter's, which has had a presence in Georgia since 1925, alsoopened a 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Braselton, approximately50 miles northeast of Atlanta, this summer. The company will invest more than$50 million over the next three years in its Braselton facility and employ morethan 1,000 full- and part-time employees by 2015.