Also with the July 1 sale closing was the signing of a 12-year, 100,000-sf lease by Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. which has relocated its headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, FL. Brokers familiar with the 27-million-sf Central Perimeter office market tell GlobeSt.com the estimated value of the Arby's lease is $24 million based on an estimated effective rent of $20 per sf.
John McColl, vice president of Cousins' office division, says in a prepared statement the Arby's transaction "will most likely be considered one of the largest lease deals [in metro Atlanta] of 2005."
The lease brings the building's occupancy to 90%, McColl says. Occupancy was only at 68% in February of this year when Siemens Real Estate Inc. signed a 25,000-sf, five-year lease for an estimated $5 million, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.
GlobeSt.com couldn't reach principals at Cousins and JP Morgan Chase to learn why the building's sale was done at this time. However, area brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com the owners of 1155 Perimeter Center West wanted to time the sale with the signing of the Arby's lease. Arby's parent, New York-based Triarc Cos., is acquiring Arby's largest franchisee, RTM Restaurant Group Inc. of Atlanta, in a multimillion-dollar deal scheduled to close July 12, Cousins' McColl confirms in his statement.
On the Arby's leasing deal, McColl says he is confident the transaction will prove to be "a positive" for the building's new owner. About 400 Arby's and RTM employees will be housed on four floors of the building. Brokers John Shlesinger, Sam Holmes and Anne Lofye in the Atlanta office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. negotiated for Arby's. Walter Fish and Scott Rees of Cousins represented the building's joint venture owners.
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