Hotel Indigo coming to College Park, Ga.

May 14, 2008
H&MM Week In Review

ATLANTA (May 9, 2008) - IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON: IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms, today announced that a Hotel Indigo is coming to downtown College Park, a well-established community near Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport and one of the fastest growing cities in metropolitan Atlanta. The 142-room property is expected to open in the summer of 2009.

The Hotel Indigo Atlanta College Park, one of the brand's first new-build properties, will join the Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown, the brand's first property to open, and the Hotel Indigo Atlanta Downtown, a conversion of the historic Carnegie Building, scheduled to open in spring 2009.

"We are pleased to be a part of the resurgence of downtown College Park and are proud to bring another Hotel Indigo to Atlanta," said Jim Anhut, Senior Vice President, Franchise Development, the Americas, IHG. "Atlanta is the birthplace of the Hotel Indigo brand, and we are excited to expand our brand concept into a welcoming, unique community like College Park."

The city of College Park serves as the first visual point of contact for all passengers arriving at the Atlanta airport. The new five-story Hotel Indigo will be located at the intersection of Harvard and Washington Streets as part of the new Princeton Village development. The hotel will be one block from the College Park MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station and the closest hotel to the Atlanta airport and the Georgia International Convention Center.

The Hotel Indigo will be within driving distance to several key businesses, including the Boeing pilot training facility and headquarters for Delta Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration and Chick-fil-A. For guests looking to experience the hometown quality and Southern hospitality of College Park, the hotel will be within walking distance to new trendy boutiques and upscale restaurants.

The hotel is owned by Parkside Developers, LLC, and will be managed by Cambridge Hospitality, under a license agreement with a company in the InterContinental Hotels Group.

"We are excited to bring this unique branded boutique hotel to College Park," said Mahesh Patel, President, Parkside Developers, LLC. "We know our guests will find the Hotel Indigo to be a relaxing and refreshing alternative to the traditional airport hotel."

Continue Reading

Hotel Indigo Coming to College Park, Ga.

by finchannel.com

The FINANCIAL -- IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms, on May 9 announced that a Hotel Indigo is coming to downtown College Park, a well-established community near Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport and one of the fastest growing cities in metropolitan Atlanta.

The 142-room property is expected to open in the summer of 2009.

According to IHG, the Hotel Indigo Atlanta College Park, one of the brand's first new-build properties, will join the Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown, the brand's first property to open, and the Hotel Indigo Atlanta Downtown, a conversion of the historic Carnegie Building, scheduled to open in spring 2009.

"We are pleased to be a part of the resurgence of downtown College Park and are proud to bring another Hotel Indigo to Atlanta," said Jim Anhut, Senior Vice President, Franchise Development, the Americas, IHG. "Atlanta is the birthplace of the Hotel Indigo brand, and we are excited to expand our brand concept into a welcoming, unique community like College Park."

The city of College Park serves as the first visual point of contact for all passengers arriving at the Atlanta airport. The new five-story Hotel Indigo will be located at the intersection of Harvard and Washington Streets as part of the new Princeton Village development. The hotel will be one block from the College Park MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) station and the closest hotel to the Atlanta airport and the Georgia International Convention Center.

Continue Reading

City of Atlanta acquires land for Oakland Gateway Park

Picture from HISTORIC OAKLAND FOUNDATION

Published by Atlanta Development Authority

The City of Atlanta has acquired a block of land opposite Oakland Cemetery to be used as part of a gateway corridor to the capitol building envisioned along Memorial Drive. The .82-acre block, purchased Nov. 27 for $1.7 million, is directly across from Oakland Cemetery’s gate, bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Oakland Avenue, Biggers Street and George Street. An anonymous gift of $900,000 to the Historic Oakland Foundation matched the contribution from the city, bringing the total project cost for acquisition and initial development of the property to $1.8 million. Funding for the purchase from Pryor Street Development, LLC and Oakland Investment Group, LLC came from Park Impact Fees, Quality of Life bonds and Eastside TAD bond funds.

“This acquisition is a perfect example...continue reading.

Republic Bank forecloses on part of Woodstock Downtown mixed-use project

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Republic Bank has foreclosed on a portion of the retail development of Hedgewood Commercial Properties' Woodstock Downtown project.

The foreclosure on Building B of the project happened May 6. Hedgewood said the bank asked the existing development, leasing and management team to stay aboard to keep the mixed-use project moving forward.

"Having an ongoing relationship with the existing development, management and leasing team is a little unusual, but we felt that this partnership would benefit all concerned," said Scott Reed, president of Republic Bank. "Woodstock Downtown is a great project, and the change in ownership of the retail space should not change its long-term potential. As the new owner, we are certainly motivated to do whatever we can to maximize the value of the project, and we feel that continuity in management of the property is one of the steps we can take to assure its success."

Woodstock Downtown is a re-development of 32 acres of historic Woodstock, Ga., that is slated to have 300 new residences, plus shops, restaurants services and executive office space.

Atlanta Business Chronicle recently reported liens filed against Hedgewood homebuilding unit Hedgewood Properties Inc. spiked sharply in the first quarter. Hedgewood Properties Inc., builder of EarthCraft homes in communities such as Vickery and Newgate at Windermere in Forsyth County, had 75 liens filed against it in the first quarter, compared with two in the first quarter of 2007 and 86 in all of 2007.

Developer seeks comeback with 6,300 homes in rural projects

By KEVIN DUFFY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/06/08

Twenty years ago, W. Harrison Merrill was taking on risky redevelopment projects when redevelopment was not so chic.

His company, Landmark American, refurbished Marietta Station and the Kennesaw House in Marietta, the Buggy Works in East Point and the Odd Fellows Building on Auburn Avenue.

Landmark American went bankrupt in 1990, but Merrill bounced back as the head of Resort Hotels, Vanguard Properties, and Merrill Trust Communities and Resorts.

Now the 64-year-old Atlanta native is pitching his two most ambitious local projects on 2,400 rural acres in Palmetto and Douglas County.

Representatives of Merrill Trust met Monday with the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority to lay out the company's proposals. Regional approval could come this summer; after that, local governments will have to sign off on the plans.

In Palmetto in south Fulton County, Merrill Trust proposes building 5,400 residences and 1.1 million square feet of commercial space on 1,300 acres. The project would take 20 years to complete.

Merrill's 12-year project in Douglas would have 910 resort residences and up to 2.3 million square feet of commercial space on 1,100 acres.

Consultants hired by Merrill Trust estimate the Palmetto project, called Foxhall Village, would add 30,000 vehicle trips a day to that area when finished in about 2028. The Douglas project, dubbed Foxhall Resort and Sporting Club, would add about 20,000 trips, they say.

The Foxhall Resort site is in the southeast corner of Douglas, bounded by the Chattahoochee River and Capps Ferry Road, which becomes South Fulton Parkway in Fulton County. Access would be restricted to resort guests and residents.

To the east, the Foxhall Village land is in the northwest area of Palmetto, bisected by Cochran Mill Road. That area is designated for village development in the Chattahoochee Hill Country master plan for south Fulton, which calls for clustered development to protect big swaths of green space.

Foxhall Village would have 330,000 square feet of retail space, 770,000 square feet of office space, 1,909 detached homes, 1,231 apartments and 2,232 townhouses and condominiums.

Merrill was out of town Monday and not available to discuss the projects. Two representatives of Merrill Trust met with the ARC and GRTA.

In Rabun County near North Carolina, Merrill Trust owns the Sky Valley Resort and Country Club, where mountain homes and home sites are for sale.

Near Phoenix, "the Trust and affiliated entities have acquired ... over 25,000 acres which has been zoned for over 120,000 lots, making the Trust by far the largest single owner of entitled lots in Arizona," according to Harrison Merrill's biography on the Web site Ugandan American Partnership Organization. Merrill is a board member for the organization, founded by his daughter.

Merrill graduated from the Westminster Schools, the University of North Carolina and Emory University Law School. He practiced law for about three years before starting Vanguard Properties.

He is a member of the Westminster sports hall of fame because of his swimming prowess. He funded the school's natatorium, which opened eight years ago.

Cousins Properties bearish on residential outlook

By KEVIN DUFFY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/06/08

To those optimists who argue the housing market is about to turn around, one of Atlanta's top developers begs to differ.

"We believe it will be some time — at least the second quarter next year — before we see any substantial recovery in the residential markets," Tom Bell, chief executive officer of Cousins Properties, told shareholders Tuesday at the company's annual meeting.

"We've stopped producing lots in almost all of our projects and are now watching the market closely for the opportunities that inevitably show themselves during tough times," he said.

A Cousins condominium building in Buckhead, 10 Terminus Place, is scheduled to open in three months. Only 25 percent of the 137 units have sold thus far, Bell said.

Two other condo projects — CityPlace at Buckhead and the Premiere at Fox Plaza — were put off because of the soft market. CityPlace was a joint venture with The Related Cos.

Residential development represents 7 percent of Cousins activity. The company focuses more on office and retail projects. But all sectors are hurting in the current economy, Bell told the audience, gathered on the 50th floor of the company's downtown headquarters, the 191 Peachtree building.

"We're seeing office users that are slower to commit or expand, retailers that have significantly pulled back on new locations and residential buyers that are still waiting to see if we've hit bottom," he said.

Terminus 200, the second office building in Cousins' mixed-use development on Piedmont Road, is scheduled to open in August 2009.

It's one of four Buckhead office buildings under construction that is still seeking a first tenant. Those buildings total approximately 2 million square feet.

"Competition in Buckhead's office market — especially among under-construction buildings — is fierce, but Terminus' combination of location, amenities and connectivity to its surroundings should give it the edge," Bell said.

Cousins last week opened The Avenue Forsyth, a retail complex that includes a Barnes & Noble bookstore and AMC Theatres. It's the company's fifth and largest Avenue shopping center in metro Atlanta. The first phase is 70 percent leased.

"Forsyth County has been one of the country's fastest-growing counties for eight years now," Bell said, "and this multi-phase project's long-term future looks to be very bright."

Bell became CEO in 2002, succeeding company founder Tom Cousins. Cousins Properties turned 50 this year. Shareholders were given annual reports that resemble Life magazine, featuring a photo of a young Tom Cousins and a logo that says CUZ, the company's New York Stock Exchange symbol.

Cousins is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings Monday and meet with analysts Tuesday.

Earlier this year Cousins laid off 18 employees, almost 4 percent of its workforce. In its last quarterly statement, Cousins reported a net loss of $1.16 million.

Foxhall Village would add 5,400 residences in Fulton County

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Merrill Trust Communities & Resorts of Atlanta, which is already planning a massive mixed-use recreational resort club community in Douglas County, has asked for rezoning in Fulton for a similar project.

The developer is planning Foxhall Village in Palmetto, a mixed-use development over 20 years that will have 5,400 residential units and 1.1 million square feet of commercial space. Pending rezoning approvals and regional reviews, Foxhall Village would be completed in 2028.

Wal-Mart won't build Duluth Supercenter

By EILEEN DRENNEN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/02/08

Wal-Mart announced late Thursday night that it would not build a 176,000-square-foot Supercenter at the corner of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

While every step of the stores rollout was greeted by crowds of protesters wearing red T-shirts and carrying "Stop Wal-Mart" signs, there was no indication that pressure from neighborhood group Smart Growth Gwinnett had an effect on the decision.

Instead, company spokesman Glen Wilkins said in a press release, the decision was "related to Wal-Mart's announcement in June 2007 to more strategically prioritize development of Supercenters."

There are already two Wal-Mart stores within six miles of the proposed location, in Duluth and neighboring Suwanee.

"While this decision is certainly an appropriate one from a business standpoint," Wilkins said in the release, "it takes nothing away from the fact that Duluth is an excellent community and a great place to do business."

Smart Growth's Marline Santiago-Cook, who lives directly across Peachtree Industrial near the proposed Supercenter, said the group was not just excited about Wal-mart's decision, but the larger changes that resulted from their lengthy fight. As part of the larger citywide debate about managing development, the city of Duluth adopted a large-scale building ordinance last December that governs all facets of projects over 75,000 square feet.

"Not only did we achieve our goals of stopping this particular project," Santiago-Cook said, "but we got a bigger win by the implementation of the new ordinance, which will address any future project at this particular site as well as in the entire city of Duluth."

The two lawsuits filed against the city of Duluth by landowner Jack Bandy – who wanted to sell his 30-acre site to Wal-Mart – are still pending in Gwinnett Superior Court. The first, alleging that the city violated the open records act by approving a moratorium on large-scale buildings without first advertising it on an agenda, has a trial date set for Sept. 15.

Vintage Communities' Lake Parkway project detailed

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Vintage Communities Inc. is planning a mixed-use project in Gwinnett County that will include a 155-room hotel.

The Lawrenceville, Ga.-based developer has asked for rezoning to build the hotel, 333 condominiums, 648,400 square feet of office space and 59,700 square feet of retail space on an 11.5-acre parcel on Lakes Parkway at the Hwy. 316/Sugarloaf Parkway interchange. The project is under state review as a development of regional impact. Pending approvals, the Lakes Parkway development will be open in 2012.

Vintage Communities is working on a live-work-play community -- Winslow Park -- in Athens, Ga. The company also develops residential neighborhoods, resort communities and active adult communities in north Georgia.

Carriage Crossing sees increase in traffic with Marriott, power center

Memphis Business Journal - by Einat Paz-Frankel Staff writer

Robust development at Houston Levee and Highway 385 is driving more shoppers to The Avenue Carriage Crossing in Collierville.

The open-air mall is now enjoying traffic from two new additions to the area: the 131-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and a new power center that features big-box retailers such as Sports Authority, which occupies nearly 40,000 square feet.

Carriage Crossing MarketPlace, the 188,525-square-foot power center, was developed by Montgomery, Ala.-based Jim Wilson & Associates LLC, which co-developed The Avenue Carriage Crossing with Atlanta-based Cousins Properties, Inc.

Carriage Crossing MarketPlace opened to the public in March with large and mid-size retailers such as Dress Barn and rue 21. Old Navy, Ross Dress for Less, Petco and Payless ShoeSource are scheduled to open this month, "which would leave us with three very small spaces," says Kay Yarbrough, marketing director for Jim Wilson & Associates.

City center project moving forward again

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Martin Sinderman Contributing Writer

Following a couple of setbacks, the city of Alpharetta is back on track with a redevelopment project designed to create a new core for this bustling Georgia 400 community.

Alpharetta City Center is a planned transformation of roughly 7.5 acres of the city's downtown into a mixed-use destination and community gathering place incorporating retail, residential condominium, and office uses, along with green space and a new parking deck.

The ambitious project has had a difficult time getting out of the starting blocks. The city's original private-sector partner, Barry Real Estate Companies Inc., withdrew from the project due to the its numerous other commitments, according to Alpharetta Community Development Director Diana Wheeler.

Meanwhile, the project, initially priced in the $140 million range, was slated to include about $8 million in tax allocation district funding -- a source that no longer exists, thanks to a recent ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court that property tax dollars collected by school systems are to be used solely for education purposes.

Builders start on The Yacht Club project at Lake Logan Martin

Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff

Construction has begun at a new 509-home community on Lake Logan Martin.

Atlanta's Waterside Properties LLC recently broke ground on The Yacht Club, which will be situated on 215 acres on Lake Logan Martin east of Birmingham.

Plans call for executive and estate custom homes, town homes and waterfront condominiums, as well as a commercial center with a marina, restaurant, chapel, business center and private club, said a news release.

The first phase of the development will include the business center, a model home, a pool with a water park, activity lawns and trails along the property's 4,000-foot shoreline.

Preconstruction pricing starts in the high $200,000s and goes to more than $900,000.

Houstonians, Hate Traffic?

Written by Houston Business Journal

{Houston is one of 23 large metro areas in the United States facing an infrastructure challenge, according to an Urban Land Institute report released Tuesday.

ULI reports that Houston and other Sunbelt areas such as Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix, "choke in suburban car dependence and a history of disconnected regional development just as driving becomes increasingly expensive."

Among the challenges facing these cities are expanding road capacity and retrofitting pedestrian-unfriendly subdivisions with mass transit, the report says.

The report shows that since 1980 vehicular travel in the United States has grown 95 percent, but road capacity has grown by only 4 percent. Los Angeles leads the largest cities with an average annual commute time of 72 hours in 2005, up from 45 hours in 1982. Houston's commute in 2005 was 56 hours a year on average, up from 30 hours in 1982.

ULI said Houston is focusing on controlling congestion and enabling mobility, and creating new transit methods such as the Light Rail.

"Houston expects traffic to double, but pins hopes on transit and highway funding to control congestion increases," the report says.

In terms of annual funding allocations for both transit and highway, ULI shows Houston spending less than $1 billion for short-term transit, almost $2 billion on long-term transit, and close to $3 billion each on short- and long-term highway projects.

However, the report warns that investing in transit isn't enough to fix the ailing infrastructure in "coreless metropolitan areas" such as Houston, Dallas and Phoenix.

Cities like Houston need to align transit projects with land use planning, or people will remain car-bound, the report suggests.

"Although transit budgets constitute about 50 percent of aggregate expenditures in long-range plans (approximately $610 billion), the expected share of transit commuting averages a measly 5.5 percent," the report says. "Although most plans seek behavioral changes in driving habits, they assume continued growth patterns toward the suburban edge, where car-dependent lifestyles predominate out of necessity."}