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Press Releases

Throughout the year as different, noteworthy events occur at Richard Bowers & Co, we would like to keep you informed. Listed below are our Quarterly press releases along with any supplemental releases containing vital information about the happenings at Richard Bowers & Co.

Metro Atlanta Office Market Report

ATLANTA—Thursday, November 10, 2011—Atlanta’s third quarter office market numbers reflect 297,530 square feet of positive absorption, the highest quarterly absorption since the first quarter of 2008. Year-to-date absorption of 324,935 square feet will in all likelihood ensure positive absorption for 2011 and the first significant year of absorption since 2007, when positive absorption was 2,738,242 square feet (we had marginal absorption in 2008 of 60,188 square feet). With no new deliveries and the possibility of several office buildings being converted to alternative uses, we expect the Atlanta office occupancy rate to increase to more than 80 percent by year-end 2011.

The leading office market in absorption was Buckhead/Lenox by a wide margin, followed by GA 40-North, Airport/South, Downtown, and NE Expressway-North. The urban corridor also recorded significant positive absorption year-to-date totaling 489,324 square feet, versus 164,389 square feet of negative absorption for the suburban submarkets. The urban corridor also has a significantly higher average rental rate (over $4.00 per square foot on average) at $23.56 for the urban corridor versus $19.47 for the suburbs. Of the urban corridor submarkets, Downtown continues to have the highest occupancy rate at 80.48 percent. For the largest suburban submarkets, the GA 400-North submarket leads the way at 84.78 percent followed by the I-75 / I-285 submarket at 81.06 percent. Considering all suburban submarkets, NE Expressway-South leads both the urban and suburban submarkets at 90.61 percent occupancy.

The five leading submarkets in space availability include the two largest submarkets and the three urban submarkets with I-285/GA-400 at 4,817,929 square feet, I-75/I-285 at 3,572,003 square feet, Midtown at 3,570,559 square feet, Buckhead/Lenox at 3,472,442 square feet and Downtown with 3,289,063 square feet. The submarkets with negative absorption this quarter were Midtown at 22,573 square feet, I-285/GA-400 at 115,464 square feet, I-75 / I-285 at 12,916 square feet and Peachtree Corners with 3,158 square feet.

Calendar 2011 should be a significant year for positive absorption, particularly with no new deliveries. Occupancy levels should rise above 80 percent with additional absorption and the possibility of several buildings being taken from the market for alternative uses. Notwithstanding, we expect average rental rates to continue at roughly the level they are currently and the office market to remain a competitive opportunity for space users. We hope with government decisions to assist the private sector, increase liquidity, and improve economic growth a better real estate market with higher occupancies, greater employment and lowering of our deficit spending will occur.