Bowers Turning Around 260 Peachtree St.

Bowers didn't disclose all of the leasing terms but Downtown brokers familiar with the property and the transactions tell GlobeSt.com the estimated aggregate value of the three deals is $5 million. The average asking base rent at the building is $21.50 per sf.

The occupancy level stood at 4% when Bowers bought the 34-year-old, 27-story, 305,000-sf former Coastal States Building for $8.8 million in 1999. In March of this year, Bowers' brokers had driven the occupancy mark up to 63%.

"Each of the three [new] deals represents a unique victory for Downtown and the 260 Building," says Mike Shelly, executive vice president of 25-year-old Richard Bowers & Co. Interactive "was looking closely at Midtown addresses before committing to 260, while RMK Timberland vacated space in 191 Peachtree St. for its new digs" at 260 Peachtree, Shelly says. Sawyer Riley, an advertising firm, moved from Ivey Place at the corner of Piedmont and Lenox roads in Buckhead.

The rising occupancy level at 260 Peachtree St. also represents the beginning of a payback, in small measure, for developer Bowers, a real estate professional for 35 years. After buying the 260 building in 1999, he invested $28 million to bring it into the 21st century, Downtown brokers say. Bowers also bought the next-door 270 Peachtree building, a 22-story, 325,000-sf structure, in 2000 for $47 million.

In the newest leasing activity, Sawyer Riley Compton left its Buckhead quarters to take the entire 11th floor of 11,981 sf at the 260 building for an estimated five years. Interactive Offices World of Toronto has leased 24,682 sf on the 21st and 22nd floors, also for an estimated five years. Bowers didn't disclose the lease terms for Interactive and Sawyer Riley. RMK Timberland Group, a timberland investment management service subsidiary of Birmingham, AL-based Regions Morgan Keegan Trust, moved into 8,874 sf on a six-year lease.

Bowers didn't disclose the value of each transaction but area brokers who deal daily in the Downtown office market tell GlobeSt.com the estimated aggregate rent value of the Sawyer Riley lease is nearly $1.3 million, based on an estimated five-year lease; the Interactive lease value is estimated at close to $2.6 million, also on an estimated five-year lease; and RMK's six-year lease carries an estimated value of $1.1 million.

"We see an exciting trend in Downtown revitalization," says Louis Sawyer, president of Sawyer Riley Compton. The company considered space in Midtown and other Downtown properties. "We consider ourselves a creative organization," Sawyer says. "We like high-energy zones. We want to be in places on the leading edge of new energy. Downtown Atlanta and 260 [Peachtree St. building] define that trend and those places."

Ed Easterlin with Wesley Co. represented Sawyer Riley. Buddy Hill and Allen Brown with Advantis Real Estate Services Co. negotiated for Interactive Offices. Gerald Lambert of Cott & Lambert handled the leasing transaction for RMK Timberland Group. Geroge Smeltzer and Mike Shelly represented Richard Bowers & Co. on all of the 260 Peachtree leases.