Loudermilk Bell acquires another Buckhead Village landmark, the former Pearson’s Wine & Liquor store

To contact us Click HERE
Loudermilk Bell, LLC has acquired, at an undisclosed price,the 16,000 square foot Buckhead landmark building known for decades as Pearson’sWine and Liquor Store, located at 3072 Early Street in the Buckhead Villagemarket area. 

The former Pearson's Wine & Liquor store building, which
has been acquired by Loudermilk Bell LLC.

The highly visiblebuilding was foreclosed on by BB&T Bank in 2012.  The building sits on the prominent corner ofEarly Street and the West Paces Ferry Road intersection, across from the St.Regis Hotel and One Buckhead Plaza office building and adjacent to the shopping center where Whole Foodsmarket is located. 
“We continue to look foropportunities to acquire strategic properties that are irreplaceable in coreurban markets and the ‘Pearson’s’ property fits extremely well into our plansfor the Buckhead Village,” said Robin Loudermilk, president and CEO of TheLoudermilk Companies and co-founder of Loudermilk Bell. “There are very fewhighly visible, free-standing opportunities for retail tenants in a locationlike this,” he added.  

Robin Loudermilk

For Loudermilk Bell,this acquisition comes on the heels of the recent announcement of other keyacquisitions in the Buckhead Village market including the acquisition of theheadquarters for Harry Norman Realtors, 532 East Paces Ferry Road, and the StateBank Building located at 415 East Paces Ferry Road.
Last year the companyunveiled plans for a new boutique hotel onthe site adjacent to the Buckhead Theatre (formerly known as the Roxy). Inaddition, the company’s development plans also include new office/retaildevelopment along East Paces Ferry Road, as well as other development onstrategic sites in the Buckhead Village.
Loudermilk Bell isplanning development on several key sites in the Buckhead Village market thatare zoned for 1.6 million square feet of mixed-use space, and are complimentaryto the new Buckhead Atlanta (formerly known as The Streets of Buckhead) projectbeing developed by California-based OliverMcMillan, which restartedconstruction last year.

Dwight Bell

Loudermilk Bell, LLC isfull service real estate company based in Buckhead.  The company’s founders are former Aaron’sPresident and CEO, Robert C. “Robin” Loudermilk, Jr. and veteran Atlanta realestate developer and former Hines executive, Dwight Bell. 
Loudermilk Bell managesa diverse portfolio of properties including office, retail, residential, andmixed-use projects in core in-town markets.

Fire Chief: Buckhead fire stations to be renovated or replaced by 2017 and one new station added

To contact us Click HERE
Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran Thursday night told members ofthe Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods that by 2017 the plan is to completelyreplace two of Buckhead’s fire stations, build a new fire station in thePeachtree Battle Road area and renovate Fire Stations 21 and 26, which isoutside Buckhead's borders but services southwest Buckhead.

Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran

Cochran said the plans call for the renovation of stations 21 (on RoswellRoad in the Buckhead Village) and 23 in 2014, the complete replacement ofStation 26 in 2015—hopefully on its present site at the intersection of HowellMilll and Moores Mill roads—and the complete replacement of Station 27 in 2017.
Cochran said he realizes he needs to do a public relations job with thenorthwest Buckhead neighborhoods along Northside Drive and Mount Paranbecause of the major commitment those residents made a few years ago, raising$250,000 and a lot of sweat equity to refurbish Station 27, which is located atNorthside Drive and West Conway.
Cochran looked straight at Dist. 8 City Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean whenhe made that comment (who was nodding her head in agreement), because Adrean wasone of the residents much involved in that community effort before she was even a candidate for City Council.
Cochran said he also hopes Station 27 can be rebuilt on the site whereit is presently located or very close to that location.
The chief said the problem with fire stations that are 30 years old—asare most of them in the Buckhead area—is that they were built on very smalllots. Most of them do not have drive-through bays for the vehicles, which makesgoing in and out much more difficult—especially for the new larger trucks.

Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods board chairman Jim King, left,
talks with Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran before his presentation.   

Asked if a site had been identified for the new Peachtree Battle firestation, Cochran said it had not, but he hopes is can be located right in themiddle of the area, possibly near Peachtree Battle and Northside Drive. 
This was Cochran’s third meeting with BCN since first becoming firechief under Mayor Shirley Franklin. The purpose of the visit was to bring thecouncil members up to date with the fire department’s progress and futuregoals.
He said the department has experienced “tremendous accomplishments” inthe last three years under Mayor Kasim Reed and with the support of City Council.“We have been continuing in our pursuit of our vision in providing excellenceand prompt quality service,” Cochran said. 

He said there are six organizational prioritiesas part of department’s strategic plan and mission, including human resources,professional development, preparedness and response, public information andeducation, and facilities, equipment, supplies and technology.

In 2012, he said the department filled six newpositions in the training academy, which had been cut from 18 to 9 people in2009. 

“We hired two additional fire inspectors and oneassistant chief to special operations,” he said. “Our staffing levels are at a20-year high.”

He said there are 66 recruits in the academy atpresent. By June, Cochran said every fire truck and engine will have fourfirefighters every day of the year, which was one of their goals but has notbeen the case for several years. However,he said the department still has 52 vacancies.


“We’ve improved our fire standard of responsecoverage by 16 percent [and] our EMS response time by 5 percent,” he said.“Last year there were 44 people in Atlanta, that when firefighters were on thescene, they were breathless and pulseless. Because of our advanced life supportand partnership with Grady, they’re alive today.”

Chief Kelvin Cochran explains about the aged
firefighting fleet of the city of Atlanta. 

He also said the department last year rescued seven people who weretrapped when the fire personnel arrived, they delivered 80 babies and thedepartment did not lose a single firefighter in the line of duty.
He said Atlanta Fire Rescue has a “significantly aged fleet.” However,he reported that the plans are to add six new engines and five ladder trucks in2014. The department also is continuing to add new Emergency Medical Services(EMS) vehicles, which are SUVs, so that response times to medical emergenciescan be shortened and to reduce the need to roll out the large fire trucks forsuch incidents.
Cochran concluded by inviting the BCN members to participate in thisyear’s Citizen Fire Academy, which he said will be coming up in April. He saidit is a good way to learn just what the firefighters go through on the ;jobevery day.

Atlanta's ChristChurch Presbyterian plans to build new home at 1740 Peachtree Road in south Buckhead

To contact us Click HERE
Atlanta’s ChristChurch Presbyterian will soon break ground on adramatic new sanctuary at 1740 Peachtree Road in south Buckhead, with amodern design that will incorporate much of the site’s existing three storyoffice building and complement its urban setting.. 

Four years ago, the congregation purchased a three-story officebuilding at the corner of Peachtree and 25^th Streets, just a few blocks from itscurrent location at 81 Peachtree Park Dr. N.E. Church members agreed theywanted to incorporate as much of the existing building as possible into a newfacility, rather than destroy it.

Architectural rendering of proposed new Atlanta ChristChurch
Presbyterian facility to be built at 1740 Peachtree Road in Buckhead.

 “Our congregation is committed to serving both ourneighborhood and the city of Atlanta through welcome, outreach and worship,”said Rev. Dr. Paul Gardner, the senior pastor.  
“We are outgrowing our current facility and cannot adequatelyexpand our congregation and reach our city without additional space where wecan worship and meet together, invite people to join us and provide gatheringspaces for youth, classes, meals, counseling and ministry work,” he added.
Gertler & Wente Architects, LLP (www.gwarch.com), a New York City-based architecture firm,is serving as lead designer and Architect of Record, and Atlanta-based Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh& Associates (TSW, www.tsw-design.com) isthe Local Architect.
 “We researched and interviewed a number of architecturefirms,” said Carter Reames, chairman of ChristChurch’s buildingcommittee.  “We were familiar with Gertler & Wente through theirinnovative repurposing of a 1913 Manhattan parking garage into a spectacularnew church for Redeemer Presbyterian Church.  We believed they could bringfresh and exciting ideas to Atlanta to transform our vision for a new sanctuaryinto a beautiful design.”
The two architecture firms collaborated on a design that expandsthe existing building on its south side and elevates the roof and windows abovea 925-seat sanctuary.  Seating inside the sanctuary will be accomplishedthrough stackable chairs, rather than permanent pews, making the room flexiblefor other uses apart from worship services. 

The present Atlanta ChristChurch Presbyterian facility located at
81 Peachtree Park Drive N.E. in  south Buckhead.

The Peachtree Street side of the building will feature a subtletower with three crosses facing north, south and east.  An invitingcourtyard will help transition visitors from the busy city streetscape to themore contemplative areas of the building.
 “As New Urbanists, we like to push buildings out to thesidewalk to encourage interaction and pedestrian traffic – goals shared byChristChurch,” said Jerry Spangler, AIA, LEED AP, and founding principal ofTSW.
“The new church will feature a coffee shop facing PeachtreeStreet and an art gallery on the building’s south side,” explained Spangler. “Thecontextual modern design will help the structure blend in with its neighbors,and we will use steel and glass in the construction as well as more traditionalchurch building materials like brick and stone.  The exterior will be cladin a large-scale porcelain panel along with the brick, glass and steel. Passers-by will know it’s a church, but they might have to take a second lookto be sure,” he said.
 In addition to the sanctuary, art gallery and coffee shop,the new building will house church offices, classrooms, work areas and meetingspace.  Construction documents are being prepared with a goal of breakingground in early June.  The construction is expected to take about 18months.
“You won’t see traditional closed wooden doors on this church,”said Dr. Gardner.  “The open design and generous use of glass windows anddoors will allow passers-by to look into our facility, where we’ll haveactivities going on every day of the week.  “We also plan for our coffee shop to become a neighborhood gatheringspot, and we’ll hold frequent art exhibits in the new gallery,” Dr. Gardneradded. “We want to create a spirit of excitement and invitation soeveryone will feel welcome to come in and join us.”
For more information about Atlanta’s ChristChurch Presbyterian,go to www.christchurchatlanta.org.

Buckhead real estate exec George Rohrig files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for some companies

To contact us Click HERE
Buckhead and Atlanta real estate owner/developer George Rohrig,who was a major property owner in the former Buckhead Village and still ownskey Buckhead properties, has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for several of hisaffiliated companies, according to U.S. bankruptcy documents.

George Rohrig at the recent Buckhead
Coalition's annual luncheon. 

Rohrig, who still owns retail and office property betweenPeachtree Road and the Buckhead Theatre on Roswell Road and 252-268 East PacesFerry Road, listed Rohrig Investments LP among his largest companies in thebankruptcy filing, with liabilities and assets between $10 million and $50million.
Atleast six Rohrig-related companies are seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcyprotection, which allows a company time to temporarily hold off creditors andreorganize affairs while still operating.
The companies that filedTuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta are: Rohrig Investments LP, RohrigPollack LLC, 431 W. Ponce De Leon LLC, Cartel Properties Spalding Woods LLC,525 Moreland Avenue LLC and Cartel Properties II LLC.
Rohrig Investments LP, thelargest of the six, reported in the range of $10 million to $50 million in bothassets and liabilities.
Rohrig’s main business — CartelProperties — is not involved in the filings. A representative at the companydeclined to comment and said Rohrig was out of town.
Rohrig has been in partnership for years with Buckhead’sCharlie Loudermilk and Robin Loudermilk with ownership of several properties inMidtown Atlanta. Rohrig-Loudermilk partnerships have over time controlled sixconsecutive corners along Peachtree from Fifth to Eighth streets in Midtown,all of which they reportedly purchased out of bankruptcy proceedings.  
Reached by phone, Robin Loudermilk told BuckheadView he knewnothing about the bankruptcy filing until BuckheadView’s call. CharlieLoudermilk, who was in Piedmont Hospital for medical tests, could not bereached for comment.
Ward Stone Jr., an attorney with Macon,Ga.-based Stone & Baxter LLP who represents Rohrig told the AtlantaBusiness Chronicle, “The purpose in the Chapter 11 filings is to restructuretheir current financial obligations and to continue in business."
As a major property owner in the former Buckhead Village, Rohrig’sdecision to sell some of those holdings eventually set the stage for thecurrent Buckhead Atlanta mixed-use project.

City funds purchase of 2.54 acres for Lenox Rd. park

To contact us Click HERE
AtlantaCity Councilman Howard Shook announced today the unanimous approval oflegislation to fund the purchase of approximately 2.54 acres of land inBuckhead to create a new public park on Lenox Road.

Theproperty, which is located within walking distance of thousands of residencesin the Pine Hills neighborhood and the densely populated Lenox Road corridor, hasmature stands of bamboo and a creek running through it.

Howard Shook

Initialdevelopment will be limited to demolition of an existing residential structure,removal of debris and measures necessary to make the site safe and secure. Thepark will eventually undergo a master planning or visioning process, includingcollaboration with the community in order to map out future uses andstewardship. 
“I’dlike to thank Mayor Reed and Parks Commissioner George Dusenbury for this $1.17million-dollar investment,” said Shook, who sponsored the legislation. “This isa huge step forward in our effort to have everyone in Buckhead live or workwithin a 10 minute walk to a park.”

“Purchasing the property on Lenox Road is consistent with the city’s goals ofgreenspace acquisition, preservation and park expansion,” said CommissionerDusenbury. “This acquisition also will move Council District 7, the districtwith the lowest inventory of parkland, one step closer to goals provided in thedistrict’s new greenspace plan.”
Dusenburyadded, “Mayor Reed’s administration, the Office of Parks and the Atlanta CityCouncil is committed to working with the community to collaborate on the park’sdesign.”
TheConservation Fund (TCF), a national non-profit organization aimed at savingsome of America’s special places, purchased the approximately 2.54 acres ofland in Buckhead at 3162 Lenox Road to create the new park. TCF has agreed tosell the property to the City for an amount that does not exceed fair marketvalue. The city’s purchase price, closing costs, environmental due diligencecosts, and site cleanup costs are estimated to be $1.17 million. 

Funding for the 3162 Lenox Road property will come from the city’s Park ImpactFee North Fund. In addition to Park Impact fees, Public Safety Impact andTransportation Impact fees will fund the additional infrastructure, includingparkland. 

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Cousins form joint venture on Buckhead’s Terminus 100, 200

To contact us Click HERE
J.P. Morgan Asset Management has formed a joint venture onTerminus 100 and 200, the two Buckhead office towers that Cousins PropertiesInc. developed during themarket’s most recent building boom, according to an online story today by theAtlanta Business Chronicle.

The 50-percent stake J.P. Morgan took inboth towers underscores the strong leasing activity at Terminus 200 over thepast two years, including new tenants such as the law firm Greenberg TraurigLLP, and the increasing confidence in Buckhead’s Class A office market, theBusiness Chronicle reports.

A view of the Terminus 200 building in Buckhead

Terminus 100 and 200 were part of a wave of new Buckhead towersfinished between 2007 and 2010 as the economy slowed and demand for officespace weakened, pushing the market’s vacancy to about 25 percent.
The 25-story Terminus 200 – the second ofthe Terminus-mixed-use project’s office towers — has reduced its vacancy toless than 10 percent today, according to market data. Buckhead’s Class A directvacancy has fallen to about 13 percent.
“It’s very exciting to affirm ourconfidence in the steadily improving Buckhead submarket with the Terminus 100and 200 transactions,” Cousins’ CEO Larry Gellerstedt  told the Business Chronicle.
“This is a great move on J.P. Morgan’s partand validation that Buckhead is making a full recovery,” Will Yowell, a vicechairman with commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Inc. told the ABC.
J.P. Morgan is using its roughly $18billion core fund to form the joint venture. Prior to the agreement, Cousinspurchased the remaining 80 percent interest in Terminus 200 from a MorganStanley Real Estate Investment fund.
Terminus 200 was valued at $164 million, or $290 per squarefoot. Terminus 100 was valued at $209.2 million, or $320 a foot, according tothe ABC.

Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts defends $572 million budget, opposes legislation to retool government

To contact us Click HERE
Dist.2 At-Large Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts pitched his case Thursdaynight to the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods against legislation presentlybefore the General Assembly that would change the structure of the commission,double the homestead exemption in the county and would cap the millage rate fortwo years.

Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts speaks
to Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods

Meanwhile,earlier in the day, Statelawmakers got an earful dozens of Fulton residents, employees and electedofficials who packed a hearing room at the state Capitol, where the county’slegislative delegation took testimony on the bills that would curtail propertytaxes, reshuffle county commission districts and make it easier to fire countyemployees.
The hearing highlightedlong-standing tensions between the county’s largely white north and its mostlyminority south. Republican lawmakers have long sought to remake a countygovernment they see as bloated.
Pittsmost certainly let the Buckhead Council of Neighborhood members know hisfeelings about those pieces of legislation, but he also talked about the 2013 FultonCounty general fund budget which was passed by a 5-2 vote, Pitts said, and hevoted against it for a few reasons, including employee pay. 

“We’re still, in my opinion, a little top-heavyin middle to upper management and up. Of approximately 5,000 employees inFulton County, only three received raises,” Pitts said at the BCN’s monthlymeeting at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Buckhead. “Reality is ouremployees, who deliver services on a daily basis, have not had raises inprobably six years. It’s just not the right thing to do.” 
He said the three employees who did receive raises work forthe commissioners.

Pitts explains his opposition to pieces of
proposed legislation that would retool
the Fulton County government. 

But he explained that the budget that was passed does includefunding that will provide that library hours will not be cut, the arts budgetwas restored and Grady Hospital got $50 million.  However, the $17 million a year that thecounty pays on debt service for Grady Hospital was delayed until next year.

One of the pieces of legislation that he and almost all of the commissionersare opposed to would increase homesteadexemptions in Fulton County from $30,000 to $60,000. 

“This will impact everybody,” Pitts told thegroup. “Right now, Fulton County has the highest homestead exemption in thestate of Georgia. As a homeowner, you say, ‘Man that is great for us.’  But what is the impact on the countygovernment? Devastating!” Pitts said. “It would mean a loss of approximately$50 million over two years for services” covered by general fund money.

Pitts said the legislation also calls for a capon the millage rate, “which would also negatively affect general fund services.” He explained that Fulton has the lowest taxrate of metro Atlanta counties and no tax increase in a dozen years.

“We’d have to close libraries, take another $5million or so from Grady [Memorial] Hospital. It would be devastating for them.What happens when they can’t accommodate all of the people?” 
Pitts, who lives in the Chastain Park area of Buckhead, saidthe premise of these bills is that “Fulton County is bloated, dysfunctional andthe taxes are too high.” He said the county has cut 1,000 employees since newcities have been formed.
He said another premise is that “If we had a board ofcommissioners made up of a majority from the northside we will have bettergovernment.” He refuted that and suggested the problem lies with the factvoters only cast votes for three  of theseven commissioners—the one that represents their district, the at-large commissionchairman and the other at-large elected commissioner, which is the post Pittsholds.
The proposed legislation would reconfigure the commissionstructure, eliminating his at-large seat and creating a sixth commission districtin north Fulton.

Pitts responds to questions from members
of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods

What Pitts said should be done is that all voters in thecounty vote on the entire slate of commissioners, eliminating district voting.  “The focus should be nonpartisan,” he added.
Pitts said he fears the package of legislation may passbecause for the first time the Fulton Senate Delagation is made up of sevenRepublicans and six Democrats and House Delegation is made up of 13 Republicansand 12 Democrats. The northern part of the county is more heavily Republican.

Doubting Pitts’ viewpoint, Glenn Delk, whorepresents the Hiistoric Brookhaven neighborhood within Buckhead, said he wantsto hear someone on the proponent side of the legislation speak to the BCN.  

Challenging a need for a county budget that isalmost $582 million, Delk asked, “How much government can we afford? The peopleare going to have to decide how much government we can afford,” Delk said. 
Delk could not understand how, with the significant reduction of people now living in theunincorporated county area (following the incorporation of several new cities)only 1,000 county employees positions have been cut and the budget has not beensignificantly reduced.

Pitts responded, “If we can cut [the budget],show me where we can cut.”