ATLANTA—Atlanta's office market struggled and strained through and for year after the Great Recession. The Central Perimeter led the recovery charge, posting rent growth in 2014. Now, other submarkets are following.

In fact, there's already talk of new construction. GlobeSt.com caught up with Chip Roach, executive vice president and market leader for the Atlanta office of PM Realty Group, to get his insights into market dynamics in part one of this exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: Atlanta's office market had nearly 1.2 million square feet of direct occupancy gains during the second quarter. What drove the flood?

Roach: The flood of activity continues because of the improving economy and job growth which is expected to be around 100,000 new jobs for 2015. We expect that Atlanta will hit close to 3 million square feet of absorption by year end.

GlobeSt.com: Class A direct occupancy rates have considerably improved by 210 basis points to 85.5% over the prior 12 months to match their highest level since year-end 2007. Do you expect rates to keep rising?

Roach: Yes, due to the reasons we just discussed. New construction is the only thing that could level that absorption out but given the cost and time to pull new projects out of the ground there is plenty of time for higher occupancy rates.

GlobeSt.com: How high can rates go? 

Roach: Rates will continue to rise to match the rates of new construction which is currently very limited. In some cases rents have already exceeded new construction but that is where there are barriers to entry.

GlobeSt.com: What are the remaining challenges in Atlanta's office market?

Roach: The Downtown and Airport office submarkets remain to be the most challenged submarkets but Downtown should begin to see a resurgence soon. The other challenges continue to be traffic and rapid transit being extended to other areas of the MSA such as north up the GA 400 corridor.