The view is worse, but Cousins Properties is happy to move its headquarters to the fifth floor of 191 Peachtree tower next year.
That’s because the Atlanta-based real estate firm is giving up its office space on the 36th and 37th floors to the law firm Carlock, Copeland & Stair. The law firm will be moving from Peachtree Center’s Marquis Two Tower, where it’s been for 17 years.
With the law firm lease, the 191 Peachtree tower is nearly 80 percent leased, Cousins officials said. Though it will be a tight squeeze, Cousins said it will consolidate its offices onto the fifth floor, which has 35,000 square feet, down from two 26,000 square foot floors higher up.
“That’s the best thing that can happen to a landlord -- that somebody wants to rent your space,” Cousins CEO Larry Gellerstedt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.
Ben Raney, president of Raney Real Estate, was the broker for the law firm. He called the lease a “very smart deal,” because the law firm wanted to stay downtown and the Class A building is “the best in the Southeast.”
Cousins purchased 191 Peachtree in 2006 for $153 million -- considered a bargain at the time. The building, which was completed in 1990, was only 27 percent leased after losing huge tenants like King & Spalding and Wachovia.
Since the purchase, Cousins has succeeded in filling it up with smaller law firms and professional services firms. Gellerstedt said the low purchase price has allowed Cousins to pass on attractive terms to tenants, but he said that’s not enough. Cousins competes for tenants against newer office towers in other parts of metro Atlanta.
Cousins spent $12 million in renovating the 50-story building, with new restaurants such as Il Mulino Italian restaurant and a gym that now has 800 members.
Another perk for 191 Peachtree is the newly formed alliance between the Commerce Club and the One Ninety One Club. The business clubs are renovating the 49th floor of the tower for $7 million and moving in together. Gellerstedt called it a big win for the building and downtown because the clubs had considered moving out of downtown.
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