Atlanta Burb Gets First Class A Office Park

ATLANTA—The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Board of Directors awarded Trackside Partners, a joint-venture partnership of Pattillo Industrial Real Estate and Parkside Partners to develop a 2.16-acre site that will become the city of Chamblee's first class A office development. Trackside will serve as the new headquarters for Pattillo, which will occupy 20,000 square feet of the four-story, 50,000-square-foot Trackside One building.

“Chamblee is a well-located community with a great deal of recent positive momentum,” Josh Harrison, CFO of Pattillo, tells GlobeSt.com. “Its location between Buckhead and the redevelopment of the former GM Assembly plant, as well as its easy access to multiple key travel corridors of Atlanta, make it a great place to attract business.”

Pattillo will relocate 35 employees from its current offices in Stone Mountain, GA. The firm has been headquartered there since 1975.

“Chamblee is using their motto, a 'City on the Right Track,' and we believe that what was missing is a Class A development in the heart of the city,” Harrison says. “Trackside should contribute to the positive momentum of Chamblee by adding the necessary component of an office workplace within the city.”

Located at Peachtree Road and Chamblee Tucker Road on a MARTA-owned site across from the Chamblee rail station, the two-phase Trackside project will total 80,000 square feet. Construction is scheduled to begin in second-quarter 2016 on Trackside One, with Pattillo's move-in targeted for second-quarter 2017. Trackside Two, which will be timed to meet market demand, will be a two-story, 30,000-square-foot building. Both phases will feature first-floor retail/restaurant space.

Chad Koenig and Lawrence Gellerstedt of Cushman & Wakefield, which represented Pattillo in its search for a BTS office site, will negotiate the lease with MARTA on Pattillo's behalf. Parkside will market the additional Trackside One & Two space for lease.

“Chamblee offers an excellent intown location with a wealth of great places to live and shop. What has been missing from the mix is Class A office space, and Trackside will fill that void,” says Kyle Jenks, Founding Principal of Parkside Partners, which has also developed three office loft projects in Chamblee. “Parkside Partners is excited to partner with Pattillo on this project and to be a part of the continuing investment in walkable, transit oriented development in the city.”

Located 14 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta, the city of Chamblee is in the midst of an economic development boom that includes high-profile multifamily and retail projects. With Trackside, a class A office project is now part of the economic resurgence in the city. Pattillo's office space will feature a rooftop deck and a two-level “sky lobby” with a walkway beneath a glass roof. Phase two of Trackside will also include a single-level parking deck. MSTSD Inc. has been selected as the architect for the project.

“Pattillo Industrial Real Estate believes that this move will be a transformative event for our company,” Harrison says. “By placing ourselves adjacent to MARTA, and in the heart of a thriving corridor of Atlanta that is quickly becoming full of amenities, we are making a great place to work even stronger. These are key attributes that will assist us in attracting and retaining the talent our team needs both today and in the future.”

Benefitting from Chamblee's strategic location along MARTA's Gold Line, Trackside is the latest in a series of transit-focused projects that are reshaping development patterns in Chamblee and other communities across metro Atlanta. Other recently announced projects in Chamblee include The Olmsted Chamblee, a 283-unit apartment complex (under development next to Trackside); Parkway on Peachtree, a mixed-use development to feature 500 residences, loft office space and retail; and a Whole Foods grocery store. Also experiencing an influx of development along MARTA's Gold Line are the communities of Doraville and Brookhaven.