GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: TIAA-CREF Pays $46M for Alexan Buckhead Apts.

Patrick Connor of TIAA-CREF's media relations department tells GlobeSt.com the acquisition was completed, but declines to confirm the $45.7 million purchase price or additional details of the deal. "TIAA-CREF does not comment on the terms, prices and other details of its real estate transactions," Connor says.

At $45.7 million, the 251,000-sf acquisition on 2.45 acres at 360 Pharr Rd. equates to $197,835 per unit. Alexan Buckhead was developed by Trammell Crow Residential and Stephen's Property Group LLL of Atlanta. Georgia Construction Co. was the general contractor. The site is one-quarter of a mile from the intersection of Peachtree Road and Piedmont Road.

Besides the residential component, the community has a six-story garage with a capacity for 480 vehicles (378 for residential; 102 for retail). Four parking spaces for every 1,000 sf leased is the retail allotment, while one space per bedroom is the residential basis.

According to Trammell Crow Residential's website, monthly rents begin at $895 for a 600-sf studio apartment; $1,100 for a one-bedroom, one-bath unit; and $1,605 for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. A two-bedroom, two-bath unit goes for $2,105 per month.

The community of Buckhead, eight miles from Downtown Atlanta, is home to some of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods and 10 million sf of prime office properties; 2,500 luxury hotel rooms; and two of the Southeast's leading malls, the 1.57-million-sf Lenox Square and the 870,000-sf Phipps Plaza.

TIAA-CREF's Alexan Buckhead purchase is part of an $800 million acquisition program the company begun in the fall of 2002. In October 2002, GlobeSt.com reported that TIAA paid Heitman Financial of Chicago $41.5 million for The Pointe, a 20-year-old, 94%-leased, 249,000-sf office tower at Rocky Point in Tampa, FL's recovering Westshore district.

In September 2002, GlobeSt.com reported TIAA-CREF's purchase from Brickell Square Corp. Ltd. of One Brickell Square, a 17-year-old, 415,000-sf, 99%-leased trophy building in Miami's financial district for an estimated $83 million or about $200 per sf.

Phillip E. Stephens, president, Stephen's Property Group and Phillip J. McAndrews, managing director/acquisitions and joint ventures for TIAA-CREF, could not be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline. Also unreachable were J. Ronald Terwilliger, national managing partner, Trammell Crow Residential/Atlanta and Michael McGwier, group partner Southeast/Atlanta.