ATLANTA—Savills Studley brought on Chris White as its new executive vice president and market leader for the Atlanta office in June. He previously shared his thoughts about the local commercial real estate market.

But that was then and this is now. GlobeSt.com caught up with White to get his thoughts on the development boom, what submarkets have the most optimistic landlords and more in this exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: Unlike during previous development booms, several submarkets are seeing new construction. Tell us more from a boots-on-the-ground perspective.

White: The good news is a lot of the developments are corporate-driven. Three Alliance is moving forward on spec, along with Mercedes, NCR, and State Farm corporate developments ongoing. Atlanta is becoming a workplace of choice for economic incentives, low-cost living, high quality of life and is home to one of the busiest international airports in the world.

Multifamily is leading the development charge right now. There is only one spec office building under construction whereas multifamily has construction all over Midtown, Buckhead, and Central Perimeter to satiate the appetite of the Millennials. Buckhead and Central Perimeter also have multifamily projects.

GlboeSt.com: In which submarket are landlords most optimistic?

White: There has been a notable increase in asking rents within the Buckhead market. Buildings that were asking $28 per square feet in 2009 are now asking $38 per square foot in a market that was deemed severely over-supplied due to four towers built on spec all at once. Specific examples include 3344 Peachtree Street, Phipps Tower, Terminus Two, and 2 Alliance Center.

Steady leasing has made a dent in availability in Buckhead. Class A availability has plummeted by 5.3 percentage points to 12.3% in the last year—well below the Atlanta's overall class A 18% availability. Asking rent for class A space has jumped by 9.5% from a year ago in Buckhead to $30.16 per square foot.

Tishman Speyer is moving forward with Three Alliance Center—the first spec office building in Buckhead since 2007, without any tenants in hand, and asking rents approaching $45 per square foot. This would signal a continued trend of increased asking rents moving forward. Only four existing class A buildings in Buckhead have a block of 50,00 square feet or more for lease.

GlobeSt.com: What's gong on with landlord concession packages, especially for midsized class A tenants?

White: There's still plenty of options since Atlanta is probably the biggest concession market in the country. Because prices are going up and supply is down and there are less options to choose from. We're about 1 million square feet behind this quarter than previous historical leasing rates of about 2 million square foot a quarter.